The texture of Shea butter is another frequently asked question. Why is some shea butter smooth and some grainy: I will attempt to answer this question based on my experience and some research. Shea butter becomes grainy due to changes in temperature. When the butter melts and then cools, crystals can form during the cooling process.
When Shea butter is extracted by traditional or cold pressed methods, the texture is always smooth and creamy to touch. Shea butter is a tropical product and in the tropics the weather throughout the year remains pretty much the same - hot! The result is that while in Africa the texture of shea butter remains smooth due to the consistently warm weather. There are some exceptions to this rule - During the months of November through January some of the northern parts of Nigeria, Togo and Ghana experience cooler temperatures when the cold air from the desert blows across the continent bringing night time
temperatures down to 50 -60 degrees. I have been told that shea butter can become grainy under those conditions also.
If you get a shipment of Shea butter from Africa during the summer months you will most likely enjoy the nice smooth texture. The texture is so smooth you may not even need to melt it to make
whipped butter and balms. However, once the butter goes through the hot and cold temperature changes, it may become grainy.
Grainy shea butter is not bad shea butter. The grainy texture is not an indication of poor quality of the butter or the extraction method. Like most things that are pure and natural, they react to their envirnoment. The only way to keep them stable is by introducing some kind of additive and that really doen't make much sense.
Eliminating grainy texture.
The grainy texture of shea butter is not so much a problem with emulsions because it is melted into the oil phase and then homogenized with water and emulsifiers. If you want to make whipped butters or balms it is recommended that the shea butter be melted up to 178 degrees and maintained at this temperature for approx 25 minutes. I have maintained the temperatuure for 10 minutes and experienced good results. For whipped butters, I recommend mixing in the other oils you wish to to use and freezing the mixture until a a thin ice film forms, then whip the butter until it is light and fluffy. Form balms I recommend that the melted shea be cooled to about 120 degrees before pouring into jars and then freezing until balm is solid. The freezing process gives that balm a nice finished look.
