Achiote paste
Brick-red seasoning paste of ground annatto seeds, spices, garlic and acid, typical of Yucatán cooking.
Achiote paste is made from the hard seeds of the annatto shrub, ground with spices such as oregano, cumin, allspice, clove and black pepper, plus garlic and vinegar or bitter orange juice, and pressed into a firm block. It tastes earthy, mildly peppery and tart, with hardly any heat, and dyes everything a deep orange-red. It is usually loosened with citrus juice or vinegar into a marinade, above all for pork, chicken and fish. The colour clings stubbornly to hands, plastic and pale chopping boards. It is sold in Latin American shops and by mail order, and occasionally in well-stocked supermarkets in the international aisle.
Substitute:
The best option is to make it yourself from whole annatto seeds, sold in Latin American and some Asian shops; soaked or finely ground and mixed with the spices, garlic and acid, this comes very close to the original. A blend of sweet paprika, a little turmeric, oregano, cumin and vinegar matches only the colour and roughly the seasoning, while the earthy base note of annatto is lost.