Argan oil
The argan oil (also Argan ) is an edible oil extracted from the seeds plate of ripe berry fruit of the argan tree ( Argania spinosa ) is obtained by pressing.
The areas of the Arganeraie , located exclusively in the south-west of Morocco , were declared a biosphere reserve by UNESCO in 1998 . This was preceded by projects to preserve traditional cultivation, artisanal oil extraction and the preservation of the Berber culture in connection with the argan tree, commissioned by the Moroccan royal family and carried out by the German development aid company GTZ . The centuries-old knowledge and practices of the use of the tree and its fruits were recognized as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in November 2014 .
Oil production
Traditional harvest and hand pressing
The fruits that have already dried and fallen on the tree are traditionally picked by hand from the ground by women in summer, depending on the height and the resulting ripening time in July / August / September, as they are not knocked down from the tree because of the many thorns and the dense branches can.
Collecting and processing argan fruits has always been a woman's business. The fruits picked from the ground are filled into sacks (previously in baskets or carrier bags made of woven palm leaves ) and transported home with the help of carts, previously also to the agadirs , and stored there until further processing begins. In this case, the pulp is removed first; faulty and rotten kernels are sorted out. The hard kernels are then knocked open with the help of two stones. The seeds contained therein are removed and roasted. The “almonds” are then ground by hand in a stone or metal mill. With the addition of boiled water, the obtained almond puree becomes a pulp, which is stirred and kneaded until the oil comes out of the mass in a small trickle.
When roasting the seed platelets, as in the production of pumpkin seed oil, characteristic aromatic substances are created; in addition, the bitter substances are reduced. But oil made from unroasted seeds is also commercially available.
The dried pulp and the peel of the seeds are mostly used as fuel in the oven; the dried press cake is fed to the goats.
The hand pressing of argan oil is much more time-consuming than the production with the help of pressing machines. It takes about two days of work to extract one liter of hand-pressed argan oil. The use of fruits is also significantly higher; Approximately 30 kilograms of fruit are needed to produce one liter, i.e. the harvest of 4 to 5 trees. This explains the high price. Since the cooperatives of the UCFA ( Union des Coopératives des femmes de l'Arganeraie ) work for their own marketing, the added value of their work remains with the women.
Unripe argan fruits on the tree
Ripening fruits and foliage
Fruit in cross section
Dry fruits and seeds
Cracking the argan nuts
Seed platelets
Dry press cake
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Machine harvesting and processing
In plantations, machine harvesting is usually done with the help of a vibrating machine. The fruits then fall into a laid net and can easily be picked up. The final drying process, the cracking of the cores and the pressing then take place in the factories.
In the 1990s, the industrialization of argan oil production began in Morocco . In the factories of Casablanca and Agadir , oil is extracted from argan almonds. As a result, a significant income was lost for many families, as the earnings from oil production through manual extraction plays an important role for women in rural regions. The Moroccan state subsequently supported the establishment of the UCFA. In this organization, around 22 cooperatives with more than 1000 women ensure that the tradition of hand-pressed argan oil is preserved. The approximately 6,000 family members in the villages can live from the sale of the oil, and the family associations are retained because there is no need to work in urban factories. With the discovery of argan oil for the cosmetics industry, as a component of care products, a long-term demand for the products of the cooperatives can also be created.
The effects of the increasing demand and the social consequences of the industrially-machine-pressed argan oil as well as the counter-movement initiated by the women's cooperatives are the subject of a GTZ study carried out in May 2006.
Extraction with solvents
For laboratory or industrial purposes, the extraction is often carried out with a volatile lipophilic solvent . After the solvent has evaporated, 50 to 55% of the oil is obtained. Because of the unfavorable organoleptic properties of the oil, this type of oil extraction is only used for cosmetic purposes. The oil obtained through solvent extraction is briefly distilled at reduced pressure and a temperature of 270 ° C to become the so-called “enriched argan oil”, which is also used in cosmetics. The result of this process is an oil that contains three times as many unsaponifiable parts as the oil produced by pressing.
Composition and properties
Argan oil has a nutty, musky, slightly smoky taste. It is a comparatively expensive cooking oil . Argan oil is used in gastronomy as well as in cosmetics and hair care.
Fatty acids
In terms of its fatty acid composition , argan oil comes off rather mediocre compared to other oils and is roughly comparable to the fatty acid composition of peanut oil . The oil contains 20% saturated fatty acids and 80% unsaturated fatty acids. The ratio of linoleic acid to α-linolenic acid should also be viewed as rather unfavorable (340: 1). A ratio of 4: 1 or 5: 1 is seen as particularly health-promoting.
| saturated fat |
Oleic acid |
Linoleic acid |
Linolenic acid |
Ratio of linoleic to linolenic acid |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argan oil | 20% | 45% | 34% | 0.1% | 340: 1 |
| peanut oil | 18% | 55% | 25% | 0.1% | 250: 1 |
| Sunflower oil | 11% | 20% | 63% | 0.5% | 126: 1 |
| olive oil | 14% | 70% | 8th % | 0.9% | 8.9: 1 |
| Rapeseed oil | 6.6% | 58% | 20% | 10% | 2: 1 |
The composition consists of 42–55% oleic acid , 12–18% palmitic acid , 2–7% stearic acid , 30–34% linoleic acid , the iodine number is 92–102, the saponification number is 189–195 and the density = 0.9060– 0.9190
Tocopherols
The high content of tocopherols is often emphasized in advertising statements . The actual content of these vitamin E -active substances is around 600 mg / kg, which is more average. Rapeseed oil has a comparable content, wheat germ oil has a significantly higher content of tocopherols. Gamma-tocopherol makes up about 80% of the total content.
Phytosterols
Phytosterols are plant sterols that can reduce the formation of cholesterol in the human organism . The average phytosterol content of argan oil is between 1.3 and 2 g / kg. In the case of other common household cooking oils, the average content is between 2 and 4 g / kg; Sea buckthorn oil even has over 10 g / kg.
use
kitchen
As an edible oil, argan oil is suitable for dipping bread, in couscous , salads and similar dishes. Amlou , a thick brown paste with a consistency similar to peanut butter , is made by grinding toasted almonds and argan oil mixed with a little honey and is also used as a bread dip.
Various claims have been made regarding beneficial health effects from consuming argan oil. Researchers have found that the daily intake of argan oil in food seems likely to be a factor in preventing various types of cancer and beneficial in cardiovascular disease and obesity . The unsaturated fatty acids strengthen the intestinal mucosa and make it more resistant and less sensitive to diseases.
In 2005 the results of a nutritional intervention study were published in which volunteers used either argan oil or animal fats such as butter in the preparation of their meals. It has been shown that a regular intake of argan oil instead of butter can lower cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood, much like olive oil and other vegetable oils.
Cosmetics
Moroccans use the unroasted argan oil to treat skin diseases and use it for the beauty care of skin and hair. The moisturizing and anti-inflammatory properties help soothe flaky, dry, and irritable skin. It can have a soothing effect on acne , peeling of the skin and burns and can also be used for rheumatism .
Argan oil made from unroasted seeds has also become popular in the international cosmetics industry since the 1980s. The number of argan oil personal care products in the US market grew from 2 in 2007 to over 100 in 2011.
The rising popularity of argan oil prompted the Moroccan government to plan to increase production with the aim of increasing the annual yield from around 2500 to 4000 tons by 2020.
Criticism of the marketing
The Swiss Society for Nutrition (SGE) criticizes the uncritical promotion:
“[...] Lately, argan oil has been advertised intensively. It is touted in magazines and on the internet as being much more valuable than other oils. It is said to have cosmetic, medicinal and nutritional properties.
All of this is justified by the “special composition” of argan oil. It consists of over 80% unsaturated fatty acids - a triviality, because this applies to practically all vegetable oils . Furthermore, the proportion of linoleic and oleic acid is much higher than in olive oil . Argan oil contains around 36% linoleic acid, olive oil around 10%. So far the statement is correct. With oleic acid, on the other hand, is greatly exaggerated, if not deliberately cheated. Argan oil contains 45%, while the much cheaper olive oil contains 71% oleic acid, i.e. a significantly higher proportion of these healthy, monounsaturated fatty acids.
However, this information is not sufficient for a comprehensive nutritional assessment of an oil. In particular, the polyunsaturated fatty acids need to be examined more closely. Argan oil is not doing optimally at all. It contains a considerable excess of linoleic acid and, accordingly, an insufficient proportion of alpha-linolenic acid .
Further praise for argan oil relate to the allegedly incomparably high content of antioxidant substances. The numbers listed may be true, but the comparisons are deliberately misleading. The vitamin E content of argan oil (620 mg / kg) is z. B. contrasted with that of olive oil (320 mg / kg) instead of that of wheat germ oil (1950 mg / kg). Another example: The flavonoid content is given as 56 mg / kg. The fact that red wine already contains several hundred milligrams per deciliter is of course not mentioned.
Argan oil is no more valuable than other vegetable oils. Many of the promotions are false or misleading and deceptive. Its horrific price of around CHF 100 per liter is not worth it, at least for health reasons. "
Movie
- Argan oil, Morocco's white gold. Documentary, Germany, 2008, 42:30 min., Script and direction: Roberto Lugones, production: MedienKontor FFP, GEO , arte , series: 360 ° Geo-Reportage, first broadcast: October 30, 2008 by arte.
literature
- Bertram Turner: Argan oil - a world career: Part I: Gastronomic specialty and industrial raw material. In: Journal Culinaire. 16, 2013, pp. 97–108, Argan Oil - A World Career: Part II: Value Chains and Resource Management. In: Journal Culinaire. 17, 2013, pp. 103-118.
Web links
- Women's cooperatives in Morocco in: Schrot und Korn, No. 5, 2006
- GTZ study (German): Value chains for maintaining biological diversity (...) (PDF; 2 MB)
- Eva Dülligen: Delicacy - Expensive drops, one after the other . In: Stern , accessed May 25, 2013
Individual evidence
- ↑ inclusion in the list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity (English)
- ^ Sabine Krist, Gerhard Buchbauer, Carina Klausberger: Lexicon of vegetable fats and oils . Springer-Verlag, Vienna 2008, ISBN 978-3-211-75607-2 , p. 56-57 .
- ↑ Sabine Krist: Lexicon of vegetable fats and oils. 2nd edition, Springer-Verlag, Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-7091-1004-1 , p. 56.
- ↑ Bertrand Matthäus (Max Rubner Institute Münster): Argan Oil - A New Wonder Oil? In: Focus on nutrition. 2009, No. 1, pp. 2-7.
- ^ William M. Haynes: CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. 95th Edition. CRC Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4822-0868-9 , Chapters 7-12.
- ↑ David Firestone: Physical and chemical characteristics of oils, fats, and waxes. 2nd edition, Champaign, Illinois, AOCS Press, 2006, ISBN 978-1-893997-99-8 .
- ↑ Zoubida Charrouf, Dominique Guillaume: Should the Amazigh Diet (Regular and Moderate Argan-Oil Consumption) have a Beneficial Impact on Human Health? . In: Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition . 50, No. 5, 2010, pp. 473-7. doi : 10.1080 / 10408390802544520 . PMID 20373191 .
- ↑ EUFIC: The Effects of Unsaturated Fatty Acids on Health - Executive Summary (EUFIC). (No longer available online.) In: www.eufic.org. Archived from the original on October 7, 2016 ; accessed on October 7, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ A. Derouiche, M. Cherki, A. Drissi, Y. Bamou, M. El Messal, A. Idrissi-Oudghiri, JM Lecerf, A. Adlouni: Nutritional Intervention Study with Argan Oil in Man: Effects on Lipids and Apolipoproteins . In: Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism . 49, No. 3, 2005, pp. 196-201. doi : 10.1159 / 000087072 . PMID 16020940 .
- ↑ Fatiha El Babili, Jalloul Bouajila, Isabelle Fouraste, Alexis Valentin, Severine Mauret, Claude Moulis: Chemical study, antimalarial and antioxidant activities, and cytotoxicity to human breast cancer cells (MCF7) of Argania spinosa . In: Phytomedicine . 17, No. 2, 2010, pp. 157-60. doi : 10.1016 / j.phymed.2009.05.014 . PMID 19576744 .
- ↑ Lucy Siegele: The trees of life. Should hairdressers be promoting argan oil? In: The Observer . February 12, 2012 ( theguardian.com [accessed May 16, 2015]).
- ↑ Argan oil - is this oil really more valuable than other oils? Swiss Nutrition Society (SGE), 2004, archived from the original on February 21, 2015 ; Retrieved February 3, 2016 .
