January 22nd, 2024

ROUCOU/ ANNATO: A TRINIBAGONIAN SECRET INGREDIENT TO MAKING A GOOD STEW OR PASTELLE.
This plant is native to South America and was traditionally used by indigenous peoples as dye , body paint , food and even as medicine.
The first peoples used the paste made from the red seeds to cover their skin as a repellent from insects and the sun. Traditional healers also used Roucou as an anti serum for
snake bites. The young leaves were brewed and used to treat colic in children. Leaves were also used in baths against boils and rashes on the skin.
The fruits of the roucou plant are small soft prickly brownish pods which grow in bunches with red seeds inside the pods.
In T&T the paste made using the roucou seeds is popularly used in making pastelles around Christmas Time . Some Trinbagonians also still use Roucou paste to flavour their soups and to give their stews a rich colour with added flavour.
It is quite rare today to see roucou plants around homestead like long ago.One of our members Elizabeth Mohammed is in process of propagating these plants and some of photos of the propagated plants from her cocoa estate.
(Source: Virtual Museum of Trinidad and Tobago, Dec 3, 2023)