Recaíto

Recaíto is Puerto Rican cilantro and culantro green cooking base. It has basically the same ingredients as Puerto Rican Sofrito, but without tomatoes and achiote / annatto.

Recaito, originally refers to a message or an order made. When most people did not have refrigeration, they had to buy an onion, cilantro leaves, a tomato, and a pepper to mash in a pilon.(A hollow piece of wood in the shape of a flower base with a stick to mash all the ingredients.)Usually a housewife will leave an order for it and someone will pick it up later.That is where the word recado originated. Later in time the name changed to recaito, which only refers to a long leaf that smells and has the taste of cilantro. Recaito is a small bunch of leaves.