The key to quality shea butter begins with the processing of the shea
nut. During the harvesting season, the women go into the shea park lands
to pick the newly fallen fruits. Shea
nut is a trading commodity and typically, women dominate the trade.
Making traditional shea butter is labor intensive. Women toil for long
hours collecting and processing the nuts. The nuts are shelled, dried,
stored until they are ready to be processed into shea butter. To maintain the integrity of the nut and the resulting butter, it is recommended
that the fruits are boiled within the first week of collection. This parboiling stops the seed from germinating and reduces rancidity in the final product.
