Bixa orellana , Anatto, Lipstick Tree, Achiote, Lipstick Plant, Kunyit Jawa
During my studies in Dairying, I came to know about a natural food coloring, called Anatto. This was added to cheese/butter to give it the characteristic creamy yellow appearance, specially if the milk was not cow milk, because cow milk is naturally yellow due to presence of carotenoids.
Happy to see the Anatto plant growing in Singapore. Its really beautiful!
The Anatto plant (Bixa orellana) is an evergreen shrub to a small tree (about 6 m tall), bearing beautiful, pink, star-shaped flowers and scarlet rambutan-like fruits. The orange pigment from the pulp of this fruit is used as food colourant or commercial dye!
The plant bears large triangular leaves, with smooth margins and clusters of light-pink, star-shaped, flowers occur on the tips of branches. Each flower has 5 obovate petals and numerous stamens. This pretty bunch matures into bright red egg-shaped fruits that are bristly on the outside, and look somewhat like rambutans.
Each fruit contains approximately 50 seeds. The seeds are wrapped in orange-red, creamy tissue known as arils. Fruits eventually turn brown before splitting open.
The dried aril is processed to obtain the orange-yellow pigments, bixin and norbixin which are caratenoids used as dye for the food, cosmetic ( lipstick, hair coloring products, nail polish) and soap industries. This dye is used to color the cheddar cheese, butter and rice.
The plant also has some medicinal uses. A mixture of red pulp and oil can be apply to skin to help in healing of minor wounds and burns, prevents scarring and blisters. Leaves are useful in treatment of fever, snake bite, sore throat, dysentery and leprosy. The roots are used as a purgative and the root bark is used as antipyretic and antiperiodic in Philippines.
Scientific name: Bixa orellana
Common names: Anatto, Lipstick Tree, Achiote, Lipstick Plant, Kunyit Jawa
Family: Bixaceae
Native Distribution: Tropical America
Pictures taken on 6th April 2022 Singapore
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