What Achiote means
Achiote is a Mexican ingredient name of Nahuatl origin meaning "annatto". It comes from āchiyōtl (annatto, the dye tree). It is pronounced ah-CHYOH-teh, and it is most associated with Yucatán.
The seed paste that gives cochinita pibil its brick colour. In Yucatán it is sold ready-mixed as recado rojo, red seasoning.
Achiote is one of the many Mexican food words formed in Nahuatl. Spanish borrowed it, and in several cases English borrowed it again from Spanish. See how Nahuatl builds words and the full list of Mexican food names.
This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: The words that appear inside dish names: the chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, chipotle), the corn words (nixtamal, masa, tortilla, elote), and the tools (comal, molcajete, metate). Learn these and most menu items decode themselves.
