Shea Butter Cream

Photo by daveynin   

1.  What is shea butter cream?
It is the fatty extract from the Shea nut
There are two main varieties of Shea nut, Butyrospermum Parkii (West African) and Vitellaria Nilotica (East African).  
It is also known as karite
The plant is pollinated and the seeds dispersed by fruits bats
It is ready to produce fruit when it is 20 years old
The fruit is a plum shaped fruit that is green purple when ripe
It is sweet and has a soft flesh which contains 4x as much vitamin C as an orange.
It bears fruit once a year in June till august

2.  When was is discovered ?
It’s has existed in Africa from the beginning
A favourite of both Cleopatra and the queen of Sheba.
It was first used by Europeans in 1797 when Mungo Park tried it
Collected and processed the same way it was 2000 years ago

3.  Where does it come from ?
It is from the sub Saharan region that stretches 5000km from west to east Africa
It grows in 19 countries:  Benin, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zaire and Guinea.

4.  Why is shea butter cream so special ?
It has naturally occurring moisturizing properties
It has naturally occurring healing properties
It contains  a natural anti-inflammatory
It contains anti-oxidants
It contains a natural sunscreen
It contains a natural compound that helps to prevent cell damage
Its trade helps to enrich and empower some of the most impoverished         communities in Africa

5.  Who makes it
It is made by a large number of rural women in Africa
They form cooperatives to make and sell it
It is called women’s gold because they run the industry
It takes 20 hours to make 1kg of Shea butter

6.  How is it made ?
The Shea nuts are picked and sorted
They are washed and left to dry
They are then pounded into small pieces in a mortar
These pieces are roasted
They are then pounded till they form a paste
This is ground on stone till it is smooth
Cold water is mixed in and then beaten till it becomes a white paste
This paste is then heated to purify it
The clear oil that remains is left to cool and harden to form shea butter cream