Culture
Making Argan Oil
Traditional Argan Oil
Argan Oil is produced by traditional methods by Moroccan women in the rural areas, and often part of a Women's Cooperative.
It takes all the fruit from an average tree, about 250 pounds, to yield enough seeds for just one litre of oil. The fruit is traditionally harvested by entire Berber families.
This woman is the first part in the chain of the argan oil process. She is cracking the argan oil and separating the nut from the shell. The last picture shows the women working all together in this women only cooperative.
The fruit is spread to dry in the sun and the pulp is removed and the hard oval nuts are cracked open to reveal the ivory kernels. The Argan seeds are lightly toasted over charcoal in flat iron or terra cotta pans, and ground in stone mills into a thick paste.
This paste is then kneaded by hand until the oil flows out, which is collected and bottled. These two women use a mill to reduce the grilled paste into a rich oil, the argan oil, in this case they are adding some almond to it to make Amlou. Amlou is a
paste made of almond and argan nut that Mooroccans spead on bread.
