Moroccan Argon Oil

It is quite a sight to see goats balancing on the narrow branches of the Argon trees to reach the berries. After digesting the berries the goats will leave behind manure with the large kernels. The manure is collected by local women, the kernels extracted, washed, then grinded and pressed. The result is the argon oil.

Argon Oil is renowned for its cosmetic benefits - shiny and strong hair, clear and soft skin, and diminished wrinkles. People are excited about its reputed anti-aging qualities. Food grade Argon Oil is celebrated for dietary, culinary and medicinal uses.

The Argon Tree - the symbol of Morocco - produces Argon Oil…the rarest oil in the world. The squat, gnarled tree is indigenous to the Atlas Mountains of southwestern Moroccan…on the edge of the Sahara Desert. It grows wild and once covered much of North Africa. While these trees are resistant to the dry climate, their numbers have dwindled and the tree has become endangered. Efforts to plant these trees in other regions have failed, which is why Argon Oil is so rare. The oil comes from the nut of the fruit of the tree. The nut is harvested by co-ops of Berber Moroccan women, enabling them to make a living while improving the lives of their families.

The Argon Tree is the life source of the people in the region. They use the tree for food, shelter, building materials, charcoal, firewood, and livestock feed. And they use the fruit to make oil. Loss of the tree would exacerbate the poverty in the region and create a mass migration to the cities. Life in the region would be unsustainable without the argon tree.

Argon Oil comes from the two or three kernels found inside the pit of the oval-shaped green fruit of the argon tree. The extraction is a labor-intensive task perfected by the Berber women native to the area (it takes a few days to produce one litre of oil).  First they crack the pit with sharp stones. This is the most difficult part of the process. The shell of the argon pit is extremely hard…even machines designed to crack them have been known to fail! They then place the kernels between two slabs of rock, grinding them into a brown paste, resembling chunky peanut butter. The paste, kneaded by hand to extract the oil, transforms into a solid hunk and is sent to nearby factories, where a press extracts more oil.  Using traditional methods, 220 pounds of fruit and 20 hours of work are required to yield 2 pints of oil. Some co-ops have introduced a degree of mechanisation that reduces the amount of manual labor required.

Contact Real Morocco Tours for more information about tours to discover and purchase Moroccan Argon Oil.