Wiki: Annatto

Adding Pre-Diluted Annatto To Milk - CheeseForum.org

Milk is naturally white and most cheese making (except blue cheese) does not significantly change the colour and thus without colourants most cheese would be white. Many colourants can be used in making cheese, there is a separate general article on Wiki: Colourants. This article is specifically about Annatto, the most common colourant added to milk in cheese making for it’s common yellow > orange > red colour.

General

USA Based CheeseMakingcom's 2 Fluid Ounce Annatto Solution, Pre-Diluting In Water - CheeseForum.org
USA Based CheeseMakingcom's 2 Fluid Ounce Annatto Solution, Pre-Diluting In Water - CheeseForum.org

Historically, yellow cow’s milk cheese was thought to be higher quality and thus more desirable as it was made from milk rich in butterfat. However, the yellow colour is actually from the amount of carotenes in the butterfat, and secondarily from the globule size of the butterfat in the milk. Carotene is a pigment from green foods such as grass and is more noticeable when cow’s feed changes from winter to pasture in the spring. The amount of carotene is also a function of the type of cow. Goat’s and ewe’s / sheep’s milk contain no carotene and thus their cheeses are normally white. To cater to public demand for the yellower cheeses and to be cost effective, cheese makers started adding colourants or dyes to cheese rather than have using high carotene butterfat’s. This evolved to the modern popular cream coloured Gouda, orange coloured Cheddar, and reddish coloured Leicester cheeses historically through the addition of a colourant called Annatto.

Annatto is by far the most common colourant in cheese as it imparts minimal flavour, is reasonably benign to the cheese making process, and depending on dosage amount, will impart a cream to orange to deep red colour. Annatto is made from the seed of the Achiote tree, native to tropical America, and while it can be purchased in it’s raw seed format, most Annatto for cheese making is sold in aqueous form with varying concentration. Note, Annatto is also available in an oil soluble form where it is used for cooking such as in some Latin American dishes. This form of Annatto is not used in cheese making as it imparts flavour.

Amount To Add

Pre-Diluted Aqueous Annatto - CheeseForum.org
Pre-Diluted Aqueous Annatto - CheeseForum.org

When added to milk, Annatto imparts little colour change, this is because it generally attaches to the fat in the milk, and effectively hides. However, the colour becomes darker due to three effects:

  • Removal of whey either through draining or expulsion in rennet coagulated cheeses.
  • As the cheese ages it becomes more acidic as the remaining lactose is consumed by the lactic bacteria (starter culture), this results in a darker colour, somewhat similar to how a phenopthalien dye in acid test kits (popular in swimming pool test kits) changes color depending on how basic/acidic the solution is.
  • If used in an open rind cheese, as it ages the cheese will dehydrate, resulting in a smaller cheese and more concentrated dye.

Therefore do not over-dose even though there is minimal initial colour change in milk. For illustration, see two pictures to right of cut curds with Annatto and resultant Gouda cheese at brining stage. Common dosage rates guidelines for Annatto are:

  • 1 drop per liter / 3 drops per 1 US gallon milk for Gouda
  • 2-3 drops per liter / 8-12 drops per 1 US gallon milk for Cheddar
  • 4 drops per liter / 16 drops per 1 US gallon milk for Red Leicester

Notes:

  • Annatto solutions are not standardized, your product’s strength may easily vary.
  • Some CFO members have reported needing lower rates when using store bought pasteurized milk.
  • Colour is subjective, a cream coloured Gouda may appear white to one person and yellow to another.
  • Adjust dosage rate up or down depending on your results.

Availability

Adding Pre-Diluted Annatto To Milk - CheeseForum.org
Adding Pre-Diluted Annatto To Milk - CheeseForum.org

Annatto seeds in grocery stores, aqueous form from Cheese Making Supply Stores.

Storage

Standard room temperature as Annatto is quite inert.

Wiki: Colourants

Common household kitchen food colouring, pre-diluted in water.

Most cheese, unless a colourant is added is the colour of milk, white. This article is about colourants which are normally added to the milk before coagulation in cheese making to obtain non-white coloured cheese. There is a separate article on the most common colourant Annatto, Wiki: Annatto.

Common Household Kitchen Food Colouring, Pre-Diluted In Water - CheeseForum.org
Common Household Kitchen Food Colouring, Pre-Diluted In Water - CheeseForum.org

General

Milk is naturally white and most cheese making (except blue cheese) does not significantly change the colour and thus without colourants most cheese would be white. Thus to distinguish cheeses, non-flavouring colourants have historically been added. Popular are orange coloured Cheddar and red coloured Leicester commonly through the addition of Annatto, the most popular colourant in cheese making. Colouring is so ingrained in consumers minds that it can affect their perception and appreciation of cheese even though colourants are normally non-flavouring, and thus the effect mostly psychological. For example, some people will not buy or eat white cheddar.

Colourants for cheese can be divided into three categories:

Colourants From Flavourings

  • Chilies.
  • Herbs.
  • Wine washed rinds.

Common Colourants From Natural Food Dyes

  • Green: Chlorophyll.
  • Yellow: Turmeric, Lutein.
  • Orange: Annatto, Cochineal.
  • Red: Carmine.
  • Pink: Anthocyanin, Beet Red.
  • Brown: Caramel, Malt.
  • Black: Carbo.

Colourants From Artificial Food Dyes

  • Common in cake and cookie/biscuit making.

Amount To Add

Common Household Kitchen Food Colourants - CheeseForum.org
Common Household Kitchen Food Colourants - CheeseForum.org

Amount to add is dependant on effect wanted and type and concentration of colourant, adjust as necessary.

How To Add

Food dyes are normally very concentrated and thus adding it directly to milk will result in generally unwanted pockets of colour. Therefore, pre-dilute your colourant in ~20 ml cool water per liter of milk/~0.25 cup cool water per one US gallon, then trickle into milk while stirring to distribute evenly.

When To Add

Many food dyes including Annatto, can retard rennet’s effectiveness. To minimize this, natural and artificial food dyes are normally added to the milk rather than being added to the rennet before adding to the milk.

Note, a common step after adding food colouring is adding rennet, do not use the same container to pre-dilute rennet in as it can reduce the rennet’s strength.

Availability

  • Cooking food dyes in grocery stores.
  • Annatto seeds in some grocery stores such as Latin grocery stores.
  • Cheese making aqueous Annatto from Cheese Making Supply Stores

Safety

Food colourants are normally very concentrated and can easily stain almost anything. Thus best safety practices are:

  • Store in a secondary external container or zip loc type plastic bag.
  • When using, wear disposable (i.e. latex) gloves.
  • When pre-diluting, use non-stainable container such as glass or china.