Some months ago, I noticed a tree with weird-looking pods in the backyard. Curious, I asked my landlord. It’s annatto, she said. I’d heard about annatto – it’s the coloring agent that gives patties their distinctive yellowish-red color – but had never seen it. Annatto is a native of Central and South America. I’m not sure how it came to Jamaica but as early as the 1700s, the British found...