On Sunday, September 3, 2017 at 6:09:32 AM UTC-10, U.S. Janet B. wrote:
> If a cheese has a natural buttery yellow color, beta carotene is
> responsible. Beta carotene is a fat-soluble yellow pigment and
> antioxidant found in grass. After a cow chews the cud, beta-carotene
> dissolves into the animals fat stores and ends up in fat globules in
> its milk. However, protein clusters and the membranes that surround
> fat globules in milk conceal the pigments color, reflecting light in
> a way that makes milk appear white and opaque. But during the
> cheesemaking process, the pigment is released: After bacterial culture
> and rennet have been added to milk and the coagulated mixture is
> cooked, the fat membranes dissolve and the protein clusters loosen so
> they cant reflect light anymore. The beta carotene is made visible,
> and it also becomes more concentrated, since the the lean liquid
> component of the milk, called whey, is drained off. It follows that
> the fattiest cheeses, and those from cows grazed on open pasture, tend
> to have the deepest natural color.
> More acidic cheeses, like cottage cheese and feta, retain their dense
> protein structures and so continue to appear white. Some cheeses made
> from other animals' milk, like goat cheese and buffalo mozzarella, are
> white because goats and water buffalo don't store beta carotene in
> their fat the way cows do. (Instead, they convert it to vitamin A,
> which is colorless.)
> What about orange cheese? Its been tinted with a yellow-orange
> vegetable dye called annatto, which is made from the seeds of the
> achiote tree. Duplicitous English farmers first began dyeing cheeses
> in the 16th century (originally using marigold petals or carrot juice)
> because the dye made low-fat cheese look more like high-fat cheese,
> which commanded higher prices. When U.S. commercial
> cheese production took off in the second half of the 19th century,
> dyeing with annatto became standard operating procedure to address the
> problem of inconsistent cheese color due to seasonal variations.
> (Cheese made from spring and summer milk tended to be naturally
> yellower than cheese made from fall and winter milk, since grass is
> more abundant and nutritious in spring and summer.)
>
>
> Today, many supermarket cheddars are still colored to satisfy
> consumers expectations of what cheese should look like. (Research has
> shown that color preferences influence how people shop for cheddar.)
> But inconsistent cheese color isnt much of a problem anymore, since
> large-scale confinement farms have come to dominate dairy production
> over the last 30 years. Cows kept in confinement and fed a carefully
> formulated mix of grains, protein supplements, and dried grasses tend
> to turn out milk with virtually no irregularities. Milk from confined
> cows also contains considerably less beta carotene than milk from
> pastured cows€”hence the need for dye.
>
>
> Thanks to Mark E. Johnson of the Center for Diary Research at the
> University of Wisconsin.

The Hawaiians call the achiote tree "lipstick plant" and they used it for dyeing cloth and, I suppose, on their lips. It's a tropical plant that grows well here. We don't traditionally use it for cooking except for one dish - pastele stew. I'm guessing the Mexicans use the stuff for cooking because the only place to buy the powder or seeds are in the Mexican food section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6_irWeC224