Argan Oil extraction and its supply chain

As anticipated in the previous article, women of Moroccan cooperatives have been handing down for generations
their knowledge about the tree of Argan and its precious fruit, but above all on how to extract the oil. The fruits of the Argania Spinosa , that we remember lives exclusively in Morocco , they are similar to hazelnuts that contain small almonds. The harvest of fruits takes place in a totally natural way because it is necessary that they fall to the ground naturally when they mature and dry, helped by the strong winds, and especially during the months of June and July.

The Berber women of the cooperatives gather from the ground the fruits of the tree of Argan, making a qualitative pre-selection and then converge them to the centers of collecting and processing of their own cooperative. From this stage everything is done manually, taking advantage of the means of indigenous peoples and their manual skills.

The traditional method

Once the women of cooperatives have harvested the fruit produced by the tree of Argania Spinosa, they remove the pulp around the central core. The walnut is literally torn apart, crushed with stones in a completely manual way. Inside it hides a seed that is toasted (it is because Argan oil can sometimes remember that of peanuts) and then chopped into a millstone, with the addition of water. From this processing you get a kind of pasta called Malaxage. Always using bare hands, such pasta is then processed until the Argan oil comes out!

The mechanical method

Of course, to meet the growing demand for the Argan oil market, other more sophisticated extraction methods have also been adopted. These can be more effective and faster than the traditional method for the production and bottling of Argan oil, but nevertheless chemical extraction exceeds traditional and mechanical extraction. In any case, these methods cannot be defined as “advanced” especially the mechanical 100%, because the quality and potential of Argan oil so produced can not compete with those obtained by the method
traditional.

Most of the methods using mechanical crushers are to reduce the gheriglio powder before crushing the inside directly, letting the passage of the addition of water that is considered useless and unnecessary. In this case the gherigli used are often raw (not roasted) to obtain a greater amount of oil, but are of lower quality when compared to roasted gaiters. The extraction time is much faster. It takes 2 hours to extract a liter of oil.

Argan oil arrives at our company Arganiae in Italy in a direct way, the product comes pure from the cooperative , without any other substances or perfumes that alter it. The oil is bottled inside special tanks directly in Morocco ; such containers are sealed and sealed to maintain the quality of the product just pure and 100% safe.
For greater safety on the quality of the product an oil withdrawal is carried out before the departure from Morocco by a specialized certifying body. This body then sends to us of Arganiae the technical sheet that certifies the properties and qualities of Argan oil; this document will then accompany the shipment of the product to Italy.

Once liquid gold arrives in Italy to customs, another sample-based product levy is carried out on which detailed examinations are carried out to test that there have been no alterations due to travel or other factors. The starting values are compared with the values upon arrival. If they combine then the goods are cleared and can proceed and be shipped to the warehouses and laboratories Arganiae in Veneto. We average 5-6000 litres per year in 20 litre tanks.

Within our company Argan oil is then bottled and packaged pure ( in various Argan oil packaging available ) or used in laboratories to create all other organic cosmetic products for body, face and hair.