Palm oil substitute - Import export

is a light yellow oil, that becomes firm at room temperature. Shea butter, also known as karité butter, comes originally from West and Central Africa and is cultivated there to this very day. The butter has a fatty, aromatic, spicy scent and is often used as substitute for palm oil and cocoa butter. The shea tree grows wild but also cultivated. It can reach a height from 10 to 20 meters and blossoms after 20 years for the first time. After 50 years the maximum yield is obtained. During flowering stage the tree grows greenish berries in size of an apricot, which contain the seeds. The harvest is from april to june. The shea butter is won by crushing the seeds and subsequently pressing. The butter is all along used by the frist residents as creme against wind and weather and the fruit flesh as food source. The product has a high content of unsaponifiables and contains mainly long-chained, unsaturated fatty acids. The refined product has no scent and is white.