Hola Mi Gente,
A lot has been happening in the world since I last shared food in this space. I think a majority of us are on the same page (finally) about the fact that Black Lives Matter, and while I do feel a bit of whiplash from the sudden current support for movements for social justice, I am encouraged to see so many people pursuing justice for the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, among others whose lives should be her in the place of hashtags.
Along with this, I feel like we’re on a positive trend of asking for more from the businesses and brands we give money and business too. It is no longer okay to market towards under-resourced or marginalized communities, and support organizations or politicians that actively make the world unsafe for us.
Enter: Goya. When I woke up a few weeks ago to the news that the CEO of Goya had high praise for 45, I felt betrayal on a deep level. Here was this brand that I’d taught so many people how to make sofritos with, praising a man who actively keeps children in cages, and protects ICE and BP agents who actively rage physical, emotional, and sexual violence towards immigrant communities. The same man that has kept conditions to the point where detainees have to drink water from toilets, was being praised by the largest sabor-building brand for Latinx communities. Adding insult to injury, I realized that the family that runs Goya isn’t even Latinx, but is Spanish. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m STILL salty about colonization, and I felt angry that I hadn’t looked deeper into this company that I gave so much money to.
It was a beautiful thing to watch mi gente immediately mobilize to share equitable brands and family recipes for sazon and adobo. Flavors we created to begin with, coming back home. As I’ve transitioned over the last few weeks of finishing off the seasonings I had at home (porque no matter what, we are NOT wasting food in this house during a global pandemic), I’ve also been working on my own sabor building without Goya.
One of the most used recipes on my blog is my signature rice, which used to use two separate goya products to add sabor. You’ll see now that those have been edited to use the spices in your pantry, and this beautiful achiote oil.
Achiote oil is an ingredient long used in Latin American cuisine. It is indigenous to North America, the Caribbean, West Africa, and India. In the 1600s, it was transported back to Europe, which then carried it into southeast Asia. This explains why the first time I made achiote oil, was when I was making a Filipinx recipe a few years ago.
While mostly used for coloring purposes, achiote has a lovely floral and peppermint-y flavor when used in powder or paste form. In oil form, the flavor is on the mild end, this is why I’ve chosen to infuse it with garlic, for a little extra flavor. You can use this oil to add color to your rice, meats, stews, or any sofrito you are cooking up.
For best flavor impact, use it as your base oil in a sofrito, and add onions, garlic, herbs like cilantro or oregano, onion salt, and kosher salt to build a good foundation of flavor for your food.
When making achiote oil, I highly recommend wearing an apron as it stains VERY easily, and is almost impossible to get out of clothes (hence why it has been used as a dye for centuries). Make sure, like most oils, that you store your oil in a glass container in a cool, dark place.
Now, lets get to sabor-building, mi gente.
Achiote Oil
Ingredients
- 2.5 Cups Neutral Oil Avocado, Grapeseed, Canola
- 2.5 TBSP Achiote/Annatto Seeds
- 3 Cloves Garlic, Halved
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer for three minutes, and then turn off heat and allow to steep for about 30 minutes then strain. Cool, and store in a glass oil dispenser and store in a cool, dark place. Use in sofritos for rice, soups, stews, meats, beans, etc.
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
