- Annatto is a natural cheese colouring.
- It comes in a liquid form and in its undiluted state it is a very dark reddish brown.
- It can be used to turn the cheese a red colour (eg Red Leicester), if a lesser amount is added it turns cheese into an orange colour (eg Double Gloucester, Mimolette) and if a lesser amount again a yellow colour (eg Cheddar, almost all cheeses).
- Dosage is very dependent on the level of the colour in the milk and each person’s preference for what final colour they want in their cheese.
- As a guide use between 0.1ml for a light yellow colour up to 1ml per litre for a red colour. A 1ml or 3ml syringe works well for this. I use a syringe for measuring the annatto, wash and reuse the same syringe for CaCl and rennet. I only sanitise the syringes in boiling water, no chemical sanitisers contact these syringes.
- Add the annatto as early as possible to the warm milk, timing is not critical though, drizzle it in while stirring, and stir in very well.
- Annatto is water soluble and easily dispersed in milk.
- It may stain if dropped onto your clothing or a bench.
- Annatto is produced by extraction of annatto pigments from the seeds of the annatto tree (Bixa Orellana).
- Annatto should be stored at 4 C, do not freeze.
* Please contact us for the purchase of 1L