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We express oil from premium quality products using the ancient cold press method. No use of heating or chemicals in this process. This is the only way to keep all active ingredients and vitamins intact.
Codina's Shea Butter and most of our oils are certified "extracted by mechanical cold press, and no use of chemical solvent".
Harvest in Africa:
Let us explain how codina's sheabutter is made without the use of any chemicals.
First of all the shea nuts are harvested in the wild savanna of West Africa. There are no plantation and therefore no pesticide or fertilizer. The shea nuts are more than organic, they are wild.
A first quality control allows us to check the quality of the nuts (Humidity, acidity, peroxide). This control is done at the harbor before shipment by boat at Lomé (Togo) or Cotonou (Bénin).
After traveling for 2 weeks, the shea nuts arrive in Le Havre harbor in France and after 2 more days they are unloaded in our factory of Blois. There, they are placed in a big ventilated warehouse waiting to be processed.
Preparation:
The bags filled with the precious shea nuts are damped into a vast ventilated silo where they will get ready to be crushed. They always stay protected from the sun or humidity and at a constant regulated temperature. If not they could become rancid.
Cold Press:
The press is a machine that could have been used in a 19th century factory. The mechanical way to press nuts has not very much evolved. In fact there are 2 ways:
a) Either you need a hydraulic press after crushing the nuts (nuts, hazelnuts, and olives until the beginning of the 20th century). This method is still in use for the nuts and seeds that need to be heated to develop the taste and aroma (gastronomic use). The African women use boiling water as well to extract the butter from the shea nuts. The heat develops color and smell but it damages the active ingredients and vitamins.
b) On the contrary, with our mechanical cold press, the nuts are crushed by a giant horizontal and conic screw that will lead the nuts to a smaller and smaller mouth, expressing the precious liquid.
This is the genuine mechanical cold press. Only this method gives the guaranty of a premium quality product. All the active ingredients and vitamins are intact.
Note that there is no use of heat or water and very little human manipulation.
Once the butter is extracted it is put in large 25 kg (55 pounds) buckets and stored in cold chamber.
An 18 tones container will give only 6 tones of raw sheabutter. Chemical solvent could be use to extract the remaining sheabutter caught in the crushed nuts but Codina prefer to recycle rather than using chemicals. Quality comes before rentability.
Because Codina have clients all over the worlds (including labs and big companies) the fast turnover allows us to always provide our clients with fresh products. The shipments are made to USA, Brazil, Middle Est., Asia and most of the European countries.
Refine and unrefined:
The best sheabutter is unrefined. It keeps its nice ivory color or yellow or green/grey depending of the time of the year.
It is unctuous and is very rich with vitamins and fatty acids.
It can be refined as well in order to remove the smell and colorful aspect. Usually this is what the cosmetic labs ask for so they can add their own perfume and colorant (lipstick, cream...).
We then use horizontal press-filters that will press the unrefined sheabutter through white earth or active carbons. This procedure will remove the fibers responsible for odor and color. It will remove some of the active ingredients and vitamins as well.
Quality check:
The quality check validate each batch and our lab controls and analyze the acidity and peroxide level.
After refining process, Codina keeps the paste remaining from the neutralization process. This paste will be use in the making of the old fashion hand made soaps. This way Codina can offer real soaps with glycerin unlike most of the soaps found in the main retail stores.
Finally the waste from the press will be used as fertilizer for organic agriculture. It still contains 10% of shea butter in it because we don't use solvents to extract it.
When you buy a cosmetic product make sure you read the labels and check if the oils are virgin and butter extract by cold press.
See bellow the percentage of shea butter in some of Codina's products:
Raw sheabutter: 100 %
Refined sheabutter: 100 %
Body Lotion: 15 %
Hair conditioner: 15 %
Cream: 15 %
Hemp butter: 60 %
Nigella (or black cumin) butter: 60 %
Soap with sheabutter: 10 %
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