Shea Butter Cream
Posted by admin on May 27, 2010
The Tree
Shea butter comes from a nut within the fruit of the Shea tree. It grows naturally in west Africa’s savannah region. It can be found in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger,Nigeria and togo. The tree requires a deep soil rich in humus and sandy clays, it requires approximately 1000mm of annual rainfall and a long dry season. It doesn’t not grow well on waterlogged land, instead it prefers slopes of hills and rock or sandy plains and flourishes best in the open as opposed to in forests. It can be grown from seed but it grows slowly.
Growing up to a height of 60 feet, the trunk reaches a diameter of 9 feet and is covered in a rough grayish bark , the wood has a reddish color and is very hard and heavy. The flowers appear from January to march, depending on the location of the tree and are white and scented. The trees are not cultivated, they grow naturally without human intervention and no one person owns a shea tree, they all belong to the whole community. The shea tree is sometimes called the tree of life as all parts of the tree have practical uses. It plays an important role in protecting against desertification and it is forbidden to cut them down.
The Fruit
It produces its first fruit when it is 20 years old and reaches full production at the age of 40 or 50, and it continues producing fruit for several hundred years. The fruit, which resembles a plum in shape, ripens from May to September. It is green in color when unripe and blackish green when ripe. It falls from the tree when due to its weight when ripe, and is gathered by hand. It has a fleshy edible pulp, which is very sweet. A shea tree can yield up to 50 kg of fresh fruit per annum.
The Nut
Inside the fruit is a kernel which measures about an inch in diameter. It is soft and yellowish when fresh, but when dried it has a brown colour and becomes hard and brittle. It contains the whitish edible shea nut which provides raw shea butter after processing.
The processing
This is done in two ways, the traditional and the modern way, both have the same outcome of shea butter cream.
The traditional way:
Matured fruit is allowed to fall to the ground, where it is collected by hand. The pulp is either eaten or removed by allowing it to dry for 3 to 5 days, leaving the shea nut and its shell. These are then washed to remove any dirt and then sun dried. The best quality nuts free from mould or insect damage are hand selected for processing. The shell and nut are then pounded in a pestle and mortar. The milled nuts are then roasted over a wooden fire in large pots.
The roasted shea nuts are then ground into a paste with grinding machine or stone grinder. The paste is then ready for kneading. It is placed in a large wooden mortar and kneaded vigorously while water is gradually added. This process is repeated continuously till the oil which resembles a light yellow curd separates from the paste and rises to the surface. This curd is scooped off from the paste and put into a separate container.
The curd is then placed in a pot where it is melted and the impurities are seared off and any remaining water evaporates. The pure oil that remains is filtered through muslin into bowls, where it is allowed to cool and harden to form a creamy butter.
The Modern way:
Matured fruit is allowed to fall to the ground, where it is collected by hand. The pulp is either eaten or removed by allowing it to dry for 3 to 5 days, leaving the shea nut and its shell. These are then washed to remove any dirt and then sun dried. The best quality seed free from mould or insect damage are hand selected for processing.
The shell is removed by cracking them with a pestle and mortar, the mixture is then placed on a flat basket and thrown into the air so that the wind blows away the lighter shells, while the heavier nuts fall back down for recovery. This is repeated till only the nuts remain. The nuts are then washed and sun dried before being ground in a milling machine.
The milled nuts are the placed in bags and loaded into a pressing machine two at a time. they are pressed and the oil that emerges is collected in a container. When no more oil can be extracted, the bags are removed and the press-cake residue is used locally to protect wooden structures from termites.
The crude shea oil is poured into an aluminium pot and half its volume of water is added to it. the mixture is then allowed to boil for half an hour. during this process the dark colour disappears and the mixture separates into two layers, water and oil. All seed particles and impurities pass into the water layer which is drained off leaving a greenish yellow layer of pure shea oil.
The clarified oil is allowed to cool before transferring it into another vessel in which it is allowed to stand for four to five days in a cool sheltered place. During this time the oil slowly separates into a solid fat/ butter known as stearin and a liquid oil known as olein, this process is know as fractionation. The two fractions are separated by filtering off the oil through muslin, leaving the butter. The raw shea butter is then placed in dark containers so as to protect it from exposure to sunlight, and it is transported to the market for sale. The pure shea oil is also packed and sold.
Its properties
Shea butter is a fatty extract that contains a number of naturally occurring ingredients which have biological activity, they are produced and stored within the shea nut’s seed. This biological activity includes moisturising and healing. It also contains several natural anti inflammatory agents and a minor sunscreen agent.
The healing fraction known as the non saponifiable fraction accounts for less than 10% of shea butters properties. The important ingredients in the healing fraction are vitamin a, vitamin e, cinnamic acid, phtyosterols, trytophens and nautral latex. The non saponifiable fraction must be large enough in order for it to deliver the desired effect, and so the grade/quality of the butter is of up-most importance.
The moisturising fraction known as the sapoifiable fraction accounts for 90% of shea butters properties. The important ingredients in the moisturising fraction are triglycerides, diglycerides and monoglyceride c-fatty acids: oleic, stearic and linoleic acid. The moisturising fraction is unique in comparison to other oils because it is absorbed at a greater depth, has a faster rate of absorption, a longer moisturising duration.
Shea butter cream occurs in different grades (grades a,b,c,d,f) determined by the presence or absence of the nutrients stated above. Grade A unrefined shea butter is the only grade of shea butter that has the natural 10% healing and 90% moisturising properties. The other grades do not contain any healing properties, and the moisturising properties are dimished the lower the grade.
Refined vs unrefined
Refined shea butter is white and odourless. It can be refined by using natural methods, such as water and earthen clays but in most cases it has been refined using toxic chemicals such as hexane or other petroleum solvents to extract the oil from the shea kernel. The refined butter is bleached and deoderised at very high temperatures using harsh chemicals like sodium hydroxide, other preservatives may then be added. This process reults in a butter that is odourless and white, and contains residue of many of the chemicals used in it preparation. It has an extended shelf life but at the same time it is often hard and granular as the process of refining destroys many of the natural propeties of shea butter.
Pure unrefined shea butter on the other hand has a yellowish colour with a nutty smell and a creamy texture. Depending on the grade, it retains all of its natural properties as no chemicals are added in the production process.It must be noted that shea butter is delicate and the addition of other ingredients to it degrade its abliity to heal and moisturise, so it must be used pure and unrefined without any other added ingredients. Shea butter is not recommended for people with nut or latex allergies.
Its uses
African unrefined shea butter cream has always been used for skincare in Africa, there are archaeological records dating back as far as the days of the pharoahs showing the trade of shea butter across the continent. It was said to be the moisturiser of choice for both cleoptatra and the queen of sheeba.
From as early as 1940’s scientist had observed that in populations where shea butter was used extensively for skin and hair care, there was an absence of skin disease and the populations skin was extremly smooth, supple and healthy.
Various clinical studies have been performed to test shea butters effectiveness and they concluded that due to the presence of the many bioactive ingredients, shea butter has many therapeutic benefits for skin such as:
ultra-violet lightprotection
anti-inflammatory
moisturizing
regenerative
anti-eczema
anti-wrinkle properties
Even though it is known for its use in skincare, it has always been used as a vegetable fat for cooking in Africa. Vegetable fat that is high in stearin is not that common globally and because shea butter is naturally high in stearin, it is used in the confectionary industry for chocolates, cakes and other foods. The fruit which is eaten when ripe contains more vitamin c per gram than an orange.
A number of other clinical studies have also been performed which have show it to be effective for the treatment of nasal congestion and the reduction of serum cholesterol levels.