shea butter
Sign in to saveAlso known as Moo-yaa, Moo Yaa
off-white or ivory-colored fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree
Wikidata facts
- Subclass of
- vegetable fat
- Part of
- Brazilian cuisine
- Image
- Shea butter 2024.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- natural product of taxon
- Vitellaria paradoxa
- Commons category
- Shea butter
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
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Encyclopedic overview
Traditional preparation of shea butter in Mali Wala women selling shea butter in Ghana
Shea butter (/ʃiː/ SHEE, /ˈʃiːə/ SHEE-ə, or /ʃeɪ/ SHAY; Bambara: ߛߌ߮ߕߎߟߎ, romanized: sìtulu) is a fat (triglyceride; mainly oleic acid and stearic acid) extracted from the nut of the African shea tree (Vitellaria paradoxa). It is ivory in color when raw and commonly dyed yellow with borututu root or palm oil. It is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer or lotion. It is edible and is used in food preparation in some African countries. It is occasionally mixed with other oils as a substitute for cocoa butter, although the taste is noticeably different.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “shea butter” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.