Methods for Drying Shea nuts – Traditional Ovens

Posted on 03. Sep, 2009 by funlayo in Production, The Experts

Throughout the shea butter producing areas of West Africa, producers employ different methods in drying the shea nuts. Most use the traditional sun drying methods while others use the traditional ovens.

WeÂ discourage the use of traditional ovens for the following reasons:

No control over the degree of heat applied to nuts
Increased incidents of burned nuts which can result in carcinogens on the final product
Final shea butter product will have a burnt smell
Final shea product will have a greyish color

Traditional ovens

Tags: burnt shea buts, carcinogenic, quality process, quality shea butter, smokey smell shea butter, traditional ovens

The Importance of Fair Trade

Fair trade allows women in the agricultural sector to rise above poverty and make a decent living. It allows them to provide for their families and educate their children without getting into debt. Fair trade gives the hardworking women options. It allows her to know that her hard work has value. Fair trade goes beyond paying a fair rate for the nuts and the time the women spend extracting oil from the nuts. Fair trade should include capacity building which includes training and creating opportunities for the women to sell their products on the international market. Read More...

3 Responses to “Methods for Drying Shea nuts – Traditional Ovens”

Charlene

04. Sep, 2009

Hi, I read the information regarding which type of shea butter to use. I am still unsure which method is the correct one because the article indicates the “tradtional sun drying method” as well as “traditional oven method. Since traditional is used in both explanations, I am still unsure. Please advise the best method – is it tradional sun or traditional oven?

Thanks

Reply to this comment
- funlayo
  
  04. Sep, 2009
  
  Hi Charlene,
  
  The best method of the two is sun drying. Using the traditional oven is discouraged. Thanks for catching that omission.
  
  Reply to this comment
olaiatn

22. Jul, 2010

in my town we prefer using the sun to dry our she abutter
and i can be proud it is the bet shea in the word.

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