Annatto – Spice of the Month Club

by heavenstobetty, posted in Homeschool, Recipes

At first, I was a little intimidated by this month’s spice. I’d never heard of Annatto powder before.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annatto

I did a little online research and when I read that it can be used in cosmetics, I was really wanting to try making tinted lip balm. I found a basic lip balm recipe online and ordered some ingredients & cute little jars from Amazon.com. I hope the rest of the club doesn’t mind that this one isn’t exactly edible. It sounded way too fun not to try it!

It’s got a bit of a golden hue, but it’s very subtle.

The boys made Cuban black beans and pan-fried potatoes both seasoned with Annatto powder for a vegan and gluten-free main dish.

Annatto Pan-Fried Potatoes

5 russet potatoes peeled and cubed

2 TBS Olive oil

2 teaspoons Annatto powder

salt & pepper to taste

Toss ingredients to coat. Cook in frying pan over medium heat uncovered for 5 min. Then cover pan, turn heat to low and cook for 10 min. Uncover and stir potatoes every 5-10 min. until they are tender. Cook an additional 5-10 min. uncovered to crisp them up a bit.

Annatto Cuban Black Beans

2 cups dry black beans

water

about 4 cups vegetable broth

2 bell peppers chopped

1 yellow onion chopped

2 TBS Olive oil

1 TBS garlic

2 tsp Annatto powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Soak beans covered in water overnight. Rinse thoroughly. Cover beans with vegetable broth, bring to boil, reduce to simmer until beans are tender adding more liquid if needed (about 3 hrs). Sauté onions & peppers in olive oil until golden brown. Add garlic and sauté for less than 1 min. Add sautéed vegetables and seasonings to beans, mix well and serve warm.

Annatto Lip Balm

2 TBS Coconut oil

2 TBS food grade Beeswax

2 TBS Mango butter

1 tsp Annatto powder

Melt all ingredients together in saucepan on low heat. Pour into little containers while liquified. Let cool and harden before putting the lids on the containers.

This cooking club is so much fun! We hope you get to try a new food with someone you love sometime soon!

I’ve got quite a bit of leftover beeswax and mango butter… Do you have any ideas about how to use them?

9 thoughts on “Annatto – Spice of the Month Club”

  2. How do you like the lip balm?? I want to try making it too. I once got all the ingredients to make shea butter lotion but didn’t follow through with it. I still have glass containers ordered from Amazon. Just this past month, I threw out the block of shea butter.
    I’m allergic to mango, so I wonder if there is another butter to use.
    Great job, mama and kids!!

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    1. The lip balm was a really fun experiment to try! It feels a lot like Burt’s Bees brand lip balm to me. I think you can use Shea butter or cocoa butter instead of mango butter. I have a lot of leftover mango butter so now I need to figure some other way to use it…???

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