The women association ''Sabari Kagni'', which means '' The forgiveness is Good'' in Jula (Dioula) language, assembles 75 women from the Noumoundara village located 26km south of Bobo-Dioulasso, along the road to Banfora and Ivory Coast.. Twenty five women got a technical formation to produce the highest quality of shea butter. Only these women are allowed to process the shea butter under the direction of their president Mrs Diagala OuattaraThe shea butter processing steps The nuts are picked up every morning starting June in the bush, 15km around the village, under wild Butyrospermum Parkii trees which receive no fertilizer, pesticides and chemical treatment. The nuts are sorted and washed in water The nuts are boiled 30 minutes in water The nuts are sun-dried during 5 days The nuts are shelled The almonds are washed with water The almonds are sorted and sun-dried The almonds are roasted in metal pots The almonds are sorted and washed again with water (15% loss at this step) The roasted almonds are processed in a grinder to produce a brownish paste The brownish paste is mixed, kneaded and pounded with the hands or with traditional wood pestles or an engine powered machine The paste is washed several times with water and become whitish The whitish paste is heated slowly to obtain liquid shea butter in large metalcauldrons. The water evaporate and the impurities fall down in the cauldron The liquid shea butter is decanted by addition of cold water then heated again to remove the humidity The liquid shea butter is skimmed and filled in an other pot The liquid shea butter is filtered one time when it is hot and filtered again when it is cold The shea butter is packed and stored Except water no one product is used during all the processing of she butter To produce 1 kg of shea butter the average quantity of shea nuts almonds you need is 2.7kg |