shea nut - 30

According to Boffa, (1999), the shea belt comprises more than 500 million fruiting trees and FAO, estimate the total African production is approximately 1,760,000 mt of Shea nuts. From this potential yield, only35% of the nuts are gathered and 85% of this harvest is locally processed, to make 100,000 mt of local butter. The remaining portion, approximately 65,000 mt are exported, mostly to the food industry. Less than 5% of the exported butter is used in the international cosmetics industry, a ball park figure would be 3000 mt per annum.
Production method
Shea trees, that bear the nuts from which Shea butter is produced, grow widely and naturally in West and Eastern Africa. According to the literature, Shea trees only begin to bear fruit after 15 years and do not reach maturity for 45 years. The trees can produce up to 50 kgs of nuts per year and continue to produce fruit for up to 200 years. The long period taken to reach maturity has discouraged plantation planting, although they are used as shade trees for other crops in certain dry areas.
The nuts, which are embedded in a soft fruit, fall to the ground during the harvesting period between June and August in West Africa. In West Africa, the nuts are buries in pits, which causes the pulp to ferment and disintegrate, this process also produces sufficient heat to prevent germination, which spoils the oil.
After fermentation, the nuts are dried for a few days and later shelled to reduce moisture content from about 40 per cent to about 7 per cent. The oil is extracted locally by a process involving the heating and kneading of the crushed kernels and straining the resultant crush to release the oil, alternatively the oil is separated from the mash by heating the mash in hot water. Shea butter is produced on a commercial scale in Europe using hydraulic presses on the nuts and then placing them in hot air ovens. The product is then bleached with a hexane solvent. The butter must then be stored and transported in cool conditions and in airtight containers to avoid becoming rancid. Shea butter must be stored and transported in cool conditions and in air-tight containers to avoid the butter becoming rancid.
Consumption
The main industrial consumption (almost all for chocolate production) is in Europe, Japan, and Northern America. In the EU only the UK, the Irish Republic and Denmark are permitted to use Shea butter in their chocolate products, but other EU countries are lobbying to be allowed to use up to 5 per cent vegetable fats, other than cocoa butter, in their chocolate. According to a recent EU ruling, chocolate made with less than 100% cocoa butter, can be sold under names such as “milk chocolate” to differentiate it from the pure and most expensive original product.