Shea butter, with its earliest mention of clays of Shea Butter, dates back to the time of Queen Cleopatra. It was Moroccan historian and ambassador, Ibn Batouta who noted the uses of Shea Butter that he observed in 1348 West Africa.
The secret of this fruit has been known for centuries. It has been realized that some of its early users were the Queen of Sheba and Cleopatra. The Europeans re-discovered the tree about 200 years ago. Today the tree exists in 19 countries across Africa from Senegal to Ethiopia known as the Shea Belt.
This geographic region where the African Shea Trees (butyrospermum parkii Kotsch tree, commonly known as the Karité tree) grows covers an area that expands approximately 3000 miles across Africa which includes Benin, Ghana, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zaire and Guinea. The area extends west to east from Senegal to Ethiopia and between the Sahara desert south to the African rain forest. Within the Shea Belt, the variety of the Shea fruit changes. They are divided into two varieties; Paradoxa found in the West, Nilotica found in the East.
The tree grows naturally and wild. With characteristics of the oak tree, the Karite reaches up to 15 to 20 meters high and grows abundantly in the dry soils of the Savannah region of Africa. It begins to bear fruit after about 15 years; and can take up to 30 years to bear a quality crop. The characteristic dark green foliage is dense during the rainy season and brownish flowers bloom from December to March. Its deciduous leaves are regenerated as they fall causing year long coverage and the thick bark resists quite well.
Each mature tree bears 15 to 20 kilos of fruit, once a year over a lifespan is a couple of centuries. At varying locations within the Shea Belt sometime between spring and fall the trees will bear their fruits. However, each tree may not bear fruit each year. Statistically, about 1 in 3 trees will give fruit during any given year. Today’s estimation is that one third of the annual production (over one million tons) of Shea nuts are harvested each year. Annually, the bulk of the nut harvest is exported to destinations outside of Africa and a very small quantity is converted to Shea butter there in Africa.
Shea butter is far superior to cocoa butter and other vegetable butters and is sometimes used in the chocolate industry as a substitute for cocoa butter. Chocolate manufacturers are estimated to use 95% of exported nuts. Shea Butter is used in the cosmetics, food and healthcare industries as well. The number one destination for Shea Butter in the United States (25%) is for the cosmetic industry. Nearly 15% goes to the personal care industry and marketed as 100% pure Shea butter cream. A portion of the Shea butter sold within personal care is set aside for soap.
