Shea Butter — Frequently Asked Questions

Raw shea butter is extracted and filtered only, keeping its cream to yellow colour and a strong nutty, smoky odour. Unrefined butter is filtered more thoroughly but not chemically treated. Refined shea butter is bleached and deodorised to a white, essentially odourless butter. Refining costs some of the unsaponifiable fraction, so unrefined grades are chosen where that content is part of the product claim, and refined grades where colour and odour would interfere with the formulation.

Unsaponifiables are the components of a fat that do not react with alkali to form soap. Most vegetable oils contain well under one percent; shea butter contains between 3 and 11 percent, made up of triterpene alcohols, phytosterols, tocopherols and cinnamic acid esters. This fraction gives shea its rich, cushioning skin feel and contributes to its oxidative stability, and it is the main reason shea commands a premium over other vegetable butters in personal care.

Yes, in fractionated form. Shea stearin, the hard fraction, has a triglyceride structure close enough to cocoa butter that it co-crystallises with it, which makes it the principal raw material for cocoa butter equivalents. Unlike lauric substitutes it can be blended with cocoa butter without causing bloom. Permitted inclusion levels in products labelled chocolate are set by the destination market and must be checked against it.

Store below 25 degrees Celsius in sealed containers away from light and strong odours. Shea is prone to graininess if it is melted and then cooled slowly, because its triglycerides recrystallise into larger crystals. Where the butter has been melted in processing, cooling it quickly with agitation will keep the texture smooth. Under good conditions shelf life is typically 18 to 24 months.