SHEA BUTTER

Shea butter is a fatty extract from the seed of the Shea nut. The extract is known to contain a number of ingredients with biological activity. This biological activity includes moisturizing abilities and the healing of minor skin ailments.

Shea nut are primarily grown in West and Central Africa in the semiarid Sahel, referred to by traders as the "Shea Belt". Vitellaria paradoxa (our variety) and Vitellaria nilotica are the main varieties. Vitellaria paradoxa is exported in the largest volume and grows throughout the West African region. Vitellaria nilotica is produced primarily in northern Uganda and southern Sudan.

We produce using both cold press and the traditional method of production.

Our Cold Press Pure Shea Butter Production Method

- Moving the production of pure shea butter from art to science
Cold Press Method + Solar Tunnel Dryers
Steps
1. Harvest of Shea nuts: The fruit is collected from the ground around the tree in April to August.
2. Pre-treatment: Washing the nuts with a water solution to remove surface mould. We do this to prevent any microbiological contamination.
3. De-pulping: Removing the pulp. Removal methods vary.
4. Drying: Sun drying using our locally manufactured solar dryers.
5. Cold Press Extraction: This is usually referred to as the Mechanical Extraction method. With this method, we make use of a small scale expellers powered by an engine/electric motor with the heating of shea kernels prior to pressing. No hexane or chemicals are used in the extraction process.

In our effort to maintain consistent and high quality of our pure shea butter, we use the Cold press extraction method.

Our cold press extraction without the use of chemicals results in a very high-quality pure shea butter, produced as a roasted food-oil and a cold-pressed cosmetic-grade shea butter.

Our cold press, solar dried method of extraction is comparable to hexane extraction in TERMS of shelf life, colour, odour and consistent high quality product except that our extraction method has no chemicals.

Some advantages of the new improved cold press extraction method over the traditional processing method include:
5% increase in extraction efficiency and 200% increase in daily production capacity
Eliminate the use of firewood for sustainable resource management. (E.g. 72 kg of firewood for processing of 85kg of shea kernels compared to no use of firewood in the cold press method).
Decreased water use.
Higher consumer preference for butter produced using the new improved method owing to its milder shea smell/odour

Learn more about our Shea butter production methods

Our Traditional Pure Shea Butter Production Method

Steps

1. Harvest of Shea nut: The fruit is collected from the ground around the tree in April to August.
2. Pre-treatment: Washing the nuts with a water solution to remove surface mould. We do this to prevent any microbiological contamination.
3. De-pulping: Removing the pulp. Removal methods vary.
4. Drying: Sun drying using our locally manufactured solar dryers.
5. Shelling: Removal of the seed from the nut using mechanical presses.
6. Grinding: The grinding of the seed into fine powder using mechanical presses.

7. Traditional Method:The first stage of butter extraction involves grinding the baked kernel into a powdery material or flour, which is then mixed with warm or lukewarm water. The resulting semi-solid mixture is then stirred continuously or kneaded into a paste. The paste is allowed to stand, with the oil floating on top of the supernatant and decanted periodically, leaving a brown solid residue devoid of oil (basically an amorphous matrix), which settles to the bottom. This residue, however, has only very little or no economic value.
The extraction process, which is the final stage of oil production, involves a series of step-wise activities. involved.

Suggested Use
Our pure Shea butter is used for body, hand and facial products because of its unsaponifiables content. Pure Shea butter contains ester resins recommended for damaged skin repair, cleansing and the sun's protection.

Phytosterols content helps cellular stimulation and regeneration. Pure Shea butter contains latex, which prevents against sun allergies.

Clinical studies have demonstrated that pure shea butter enhances capillary vessels blood activity, increasing oxygenation and metabolic residues elimination.
Shea nut products, the solid fat (butter or stearin) and the liquid oil (olien), are ideal for use as raw materials in cooking oil, margarine, cosmetics, soap, detergents and candles, but it has found its primary market niche as a substitute for cocoa butter in the chocolate and confectionery industry.

Pure Shea butter has been used for centuries in Africa. It is used to moisturize and protect the skin from sun, wind, heat and salt water. It is known as the most effective skin moisturizer and conditioner because of its high content of non-saponifiable fats including vitamin F.

It is an excellent skin moistener and is used for aging skin, eczema and all forms of massage. It is also used to relax the muscles and to treat sprains wounds and colds. The unique formula of Pure Shea butter also helps prevent and protect dry skin providing temporal relief from irritation, dryness and wind burned skin.

Pure Shea Butter can be used as a hair dressing cream to moisturize a dry scalp and stimulate hair growth. As a hair cream, it helps to hold the hairstyle and lightly relax curls.

Medicinally, Pure Shea Butter has been studied as an anti-inflammatory tropical cream, being helpful in cases of arthritis (Kerharo), and it contains stigmasterol, which is the sterol known as "the anti-stiffness factor" making it helpful in cases of rheumatism (Hampton). It has additionally been studied as a nasal decongestant by applying it to the inside of the nostrils (Tella).

Pure Shea Butter is also helpful in cases of eczema and dermatitis and "contains chemical constituents that help to heal bruising and soreness" (Falconi).

Origin Of Shea butter
Pure Shea butter has been used in Africa for many centuries. It is produced from an edible nut of a fruit from The Shea Tree or The Karite. The Tree grows in the western region of Africa - Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso and other Savanna Regions of West Africa.

The Fruits of these trees contain a nut. These nuts are processed to create the Pure Shea butter. Women are usually responsible for the processing of Pure Shea Butter. These processes include picking the shea nut fruits, drying, pounding and kneading.

Pure Shea butter has a smooth and soft paste texture and is yellow, whitish or a greenish colour depending on how it is processed.

Quality Standards
Individual companies specify their own quality standards for purchases of pure shea butter. The following is a benchmark for the composition of the shea butter required for import:

Free Fatty Acids (FFA)
Moisture Content
Melting Range
Unsaponifiable Matter

Sekaf (GH) Ltd's main activity is international trade of tropical raw materials. Sekaf collects shea nut products. The nuts collected are pretreated to prevent and remove the possibility of surface molds and also as a precaution to microbiological contamination.

Sekaf (GH) Ltd nuts, from cursory observation even appear to be of excellent quality and have been confirmed in our laboratory analysis. We store our nuts in a well-constructed and maintained traditional storage facility. The shea nut is very wet when it is picked and the drying process, bagging, packaging and storage has to be managed efficiently to ensure that the Free Fatty Acid content remains as low as possible.
Our attention to details in the areas of processing, packaging, quality control, warehousing and shipments has made our shea nut and pure shea butter products the best in quality.