Annotto, Annatto, Or Arnatto. Is a kind of orange dye, brought from the West Indies. It is procured from the pulp of the seed-corpuscules, of a shrub called achiotte, the Bixa Orellana, Linnaeus, which grows seven or eight feet high, and produces pods, each containing thirty or forty seeds, enveloped in a pulp of a bright red colour. After the pulp and seeds are repeatedly pounded, boiled, strained, and dried, it is fit for sale. Annotto has been of late prepared only by the Spaniards. Much of our cheese is coloured with this dye, and not with marigolds. Some of the Dutch farmers use it to give a rich colour to their butter. The poor people use it instead of saffron, and it was formerly often mixed in the grinding of the cocoa, as an ingredient in chocolate, in the quantity of about two drachms to the pound, in order to give it a reddish colour. It is useful as an ingredient in varnishes and lacquers. The liquid sold under the name of "Scott's Nankeen Dye" seems to be nothing but annatto dissolved in an alkaline ley.