Argan oil is a plant oil produced from the kernels of the argan tree, endemic to Morocco, that is valued for its nutritive, cosmetic and numerous medicinal properties. It is also known in cosmetic use as moroccan oil.

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The tree is extremely well adapted to drought and other environmentally harsh conditions of southwestern Morocco. The genus Argania once covered North Africa and is now endangered and under protection of UNESCO. The argan tree grows wild in semi-arid soil, its deep root system helping to protect against soil erosion and the northern advance of the Sahara. This biosphere reserve, the Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve, covers a vast intramontane plain of more than 2,560,000 hectares, bordered by the High Atlas and Little Atlas Mountains and the Atlantic in the west. Argan oil remains one of the rarest oils in the world due to the small and very specific growing areas.

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STAGES OF ARGAN OIL PRODUCTION

Those Climbing Goats
goats in argan treeGoats climb the knobby branches of the argan trees.  This is a site to behold on a road trip through the southwestern regions of Morocco.  They eat the fruits of the argan tree and leave behind the hard shell with the nuts inside of them.
Workers collect the Argan shells from the terrain and bring them to the Co-operatives.

Pulping
The pulping is a separation of the dry exterior pulp from the inside nut.   The nut or “aqua” is solid and there may be 1-3 in each casing.  The nut is placed on a stone and another stone is used to open it with precision and dexterity.

Crushing
The crushing is a manual step in which the “aqua”,(argan almonds) are crushed into a think paste.  This stage is very difficult and has not been able to be reproduced by machinery.

Grinding
The argan past is placed into a stone mill in which an argan meal is produced.  The cosmetic oil is processed by a stone mill machine to reduce the flavor and give the oil neutrality.  The culinary oil is processed by a traditional stone mill, which allows the nutty flavor and aroma to be preserved.  The culinary nuts are roasted before the grinding takes place.

Manual Mixing of the Argan Meal
This is the most difficult and tiring step.  The argan meal is hand mixed with long circular strokes going both fast and slow.  The meal becomes a paste and then a loaf of argan is prepared, known as the “tazquemout.”

Pressing the Argan Loaf
The argan loaf is pressed by hand in order to extract a maximum amount of oil.  This is a slow and difficult process.  Once the maximum amount of oil has been retrieved, the oil is ready for filtration.  The remaining loaf is given to animals or sold to the cosmetics industry to be used in shampoos and other products having argan extracts.

Filtering of the Argan Oil
In this stage the argan oil is filtered manually several times.  The Argan oil has a thick, dense and raw quality since it has been hand pressed.  This helps to preserve its wonderful original flavor and aroma.  It also maintains all the vital nutrients that give it its magnificent medicinal properties.