Whipping the Shea

Whipping Shea Butter (not the whipping you think!)

Your shea needs to be whipped like this before you can make your lovely whipped body butters and other products

Whipping (or churning) Shea Butter is a key step in making it. And it is hard work.

After the Shea Nuts (Seeds) are crushed, roasted and then ground to release the oils the women carefully knead in just the right amount of water to get it to the consistency where they can whip it.

They whip it vigorously, slowly adding more water and then, suddenly, magic happens.  The thick brown substance starts to turn a lighter colour.

A little more water is added and the coagulated shea oils float to the top and the water and solids separate out.

The coagulated oils are scooped out by hand and put into a large pot for the final stages

The water and solids are left behind.  The water is left to evaporate and the solids, which still contain lots of shea oils (the only way to recover all the oils is to use solvents to extract it – something that is not done in hand-made shea butter).

The solids are dried and formed into balls and used for fuel in the fire.  Every bit is used, nothing is wasted.

#KnowAboutShea – a series of informational posts about shea butter and the women, families and communities that make it

These next lines give you more information about Baraka Shea Butter – read them if interested.

What we hope you take away from this post more than anything is that you impact women, families and communities when you buy shea butter and that it is important to know the source of your shea butter.

It is so easy to have ‘raw and unrefined’ shea butter that was industrially processed, chemically extracted and all the income and impact ripped from the women and given to the factory. See more in this blog https://barakasheabutter.com/sheabutter_blog/unrefined-and-raw-shea-butter/

Baraka Shea Butter is handmade by women in northern Ghana using age-old traditions and techniques. It is core to traditional life and to their economic well-being.

You make a difference with every purchase from Baraka, or from people who make products with Baraka Shea Butter.

It has a direct impact on hard-working women and their families.

You can learn more, or order at https://barakasheabutter.com/