The Baobab is one of Africa’s most recognisable natural icons and a tree of fascinating contrasts. It can thrive in harsh desert-like conditions for well over a thousand years, yet its delicate extravagant flowers blossom dramatically for just 24 hours and then wilt. It can take a baobab tree up to 200 years before it produces its first hard green-brown velvety pod-shaped fruit, yet it’s the rich harvest from this fruit that makes the baobab a tree of such enduring value.
When broken open, the fruit pods reveal small hard brown seeds embedded in clumps of a creamy coloured dry fibrous powder. The seeds are separated from the powder (which is highly prized for its nutritional value) to be cold-pressed into a rich golden-amber oil. Only 5% of each seed yields oil, making baobab oil a rare and valuable substance.
Baobab is easily one of nature’s hardest working botanical oils. With its numerous skin-healing and cosmetic properties, it’s a multi-tasking virtuoso in a category all of its own. Apart from anything else, it’s a pleasurable experience to use this light yet luscious golden oil with its faintly nutty fragrance and smooth silky texture.
If you’re inspired to try out baobab oil, be sure to seek out oil that has been fairly traded, is certified organic, wild-harvested and made from fallen fruit only; this ensures the trees are not damaged during the harvesting process.
The generous bounty of the baobab tree truly deserves our honour and respect.
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