Shea butter

Shea butter is a yellow to brown vegetable fat.   It is extracted from the fruit kernels of the shea tree. These large trees (10 to 15 meters tall) grow wild, mainly in the savannahs of Central and West Africa. They bear their first fruit after 15 years. 20kg of fruit per tree yields around 3 to 4 kilograms of kernels.

The bunches of fruit detach themselves from the tree and are collected by women, who then shell the nuts to preserve the kernels inside. The kernel contains 50% lipids and is the raw material for shea butter. In the traditional method, the almonds are washed, dried, roasted and crushed, then added to water and heated to obtain a paste from which the oil is separated, and which, when cooled, becomes shea butter. The other method consists of toasting the kernels and grinding them in an extractor to obtain cold-pressed oil. A yield of 35% shea butter per dry weight of nuts can be obtained.  The butter obtained can then be refined and deodorized, but this process destroys some of the active ingredients contained in the shea butter. Industrialized techniques allow a much higher extraction rate, but are much less environmentally friendly, and the shea butter obtained is of lower quality. 50% of the world's shea butter is produced in Europe. This process is less environmentally friendly and is to the detriment of African women. 

Nutritionally, it is rich in unsaponifiable matter (15%), vitamins A and E, phytosterols and terpene alcohols.  It is essentially composed of oleic and stearic acids.  It has a long shelf life, from 2 to 5 years. 

90% of the world's shea butter is used for food and 10% for cosmetics. 

In the food sector, it is used to make chocolates, confectionery and pastries. In fact, 5% of the cocoa butter can be replaced by a substitute according to the legislation authorized in certain countries. In cosmetics, it is highly prized for its emollient and nourishing properties, and is used in the manufacture of creams, milks and balms. Stearic acid is used to make cocoa substitutes and improvers.