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The
Shea Butter Story is intimately familiar to
women, children and families of northern Ghana and
many other areas of sub-Saharan Africa. It is a
story that has changed little over the last few
thousand years - Shea Butter is still collected,
processed and used in much the same way that it
was 2,000 years ago. The difference is that now
the benefits of Shea Butter are available to North
America, Asia and Europe through the efforts of
people like Gifty, and businesses like Shea Butter
Market. The other difference, which is huge, is
that Shea Butter is allowing many women to take
more control of their economic destiny and is providing
the resources to allow children to go to school
and families to thrive.
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The Shea Tree is native
to tropical Africa. 12 to 20 meters high, its branches
are short and thick with a grayish bark. It grows
spontaneously throughout drier areas in much of
the Sub-Saharan region. The Shea Tree takes about
15 years to produce its first fruit and only reaches
full maturity after 25-50 years. It produces fruit
once each year and is very resistant to bush fires.
So far, the Shea Tree has not been successfully
domesticated, largely due to the long time it takes
to produce the first fruit. |
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Shea Fruit is delicious
and enjoyed by everyone when it matures from June
to August, the middle of the rainy season. People
say the round greenish-yellow fruit is like a taste
of heaven. When the heavy rains push the ripe fruits
onto the ground people pick them up and eat them.
Children, Elders, everyone enjoys this gift from
nature. The fruit is so abundant that there is plenty
for everyone, and for the animals and birds. Traditionally
the fruits are eaten fresh and not preserved.
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Gathering the Shea Nuts
is often just a part of eating the fruit. Children
are taught from the earliest age that the gift of
the Shea Tree is to be treasured. During Shea Fruit
season every house has a basket where the Shea Nuts
(which are at the centre of the fruit like a peach
stone) are deposited after the fruit is eaten. Women
will scour the savannah and bush, gathering basketfuls
of Shea Nuts and then walking miles back to their
villages, carrying them in baskets on their heads.
Gathering the Shea Nuts, along with all the other
steps of the process, is a social activity. |
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Drying the Shea Nuts -
After the Shea Nuts are gathered they must be
dried to prevent spoilage when the nuts are stored.
They are spread on the ground in the hot African
sun and left to dry. |
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Separating/Cracking -
When dry, the nut which is the source of Shea Butter,
must be separated from the outer shell. This is
a social activity, traditionally done by Women Elders
and young girls who sit on the ground and break
the shells with a small rock. |
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Crushing - To make the
Shea Nuts into butter they must be crushed. Traditionally
this is done with a mortar and pestle. It is hard
grueling work with the women spending hours lifting
the heavy pestles and slamming them down into the
mortar to crush the nuts so they can be roasted.
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Roasting - The crushed
nuts are then roasted in huge pots over an open
wood fire. The pots must be stirred constantly with
a wooden paddle so they don't burn. The butter is
heavy and stirring it is hot, smoky work, done under
a searing African sun. This is where the slight
smoky smell of traditional Shea Butter originates.
The smell tells you that the butter has been produced
using the same traditions and tools that have been
used for hundreds of years. |
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Grinding - The roasted
Shea Nuts are ground into a smoother paste, water
is gradually added and the paste is mixed well by
hand. |
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Separating and Curing the
Butter Oils - The paste is kneaded by hand in
large basins and water is gradually added to help
separate out the butter oils. As they float to the
top the butter oils, which are in a curd state,
are taken out and excess water squeezed out. The
butter oil curds are then melted in large open pots
over a slow fire. A period of slow boiling will
remove any remaining water, which boils off as steam.
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And Now Shea Butter -
The pure Shea Butter is ladled off the top of the
pot and put in a cool place to harden. Shea Butter,
which is creamy or golden yellow in its natural
state, is traditionally formed into balls by the
women. |
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Our Shea Butter is still
made in the same traditional way that it has been
made for millennia and it still contains all of
the skin care and healing properties that so many
generations of Ghanaians have depended on to protect
their skin against the sun and wind from the Sahara.
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