Sofrito is the aromatic base paste at the heart of Latin American and Caribbean cooking, a puréed blend in which sweet peppers, onions, garlic and pungent culantro are ground into a fragrant green (or, when tomato and annatto are added, reddish) mash. Herbaceous, garlicky, sweet-peppery and gently savoury rather than hot, it is not eaten on its own but sweated in oil at the start of a dish to build the foundational flavour of rice, beans, stews and braises — a made flavour base sold jarred and frozen as much as pounded fresh at home.