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Sustainability and Our Work in Africa Connections with Rural Harvesters
Since our inception, the Epicurean Shea
Butter Company has focused on ways to ensure that our Shea Butter raw
material purchases directly benefit the rural, working communities
where the oil is produced. The Epicurean Shea Butter Company strongly
believes in the importance of building mutually-beneficial
relationships with shea nut gatherers and rural communities with which
we
All of our shea butter is sourced directly from Africa. We work directly with several women’s co-ops in Africa to ensure Fair Trade, quality and Equality. This way, we can be sure there is no middle person involved in our Shea Butter supply chain, thus enabling our coop partners to maximize profits for themselves and their families.
Sustainable Shea Butter All of the fruit harvested to create our shea butter is fruit that has fallen from the Karite Tree. Therefore, our Shea Butter is harvested from ripe fruit, at the peak of effectiveness and the Karite tree is allowed to produce fruit throughout its natural growth cycle which sometimes takes as long as 30 years. Even the refuse water used to process the shea butter is used (it is an effective termite repellant) Since our women’s co-ops are located in rural areas, and the karite tree is wild growing, the oil produced is innately organic. The seeds are used, not the fruit so there is no need for pesticides (even if they were available) and this also promotes responsible environmental and economic efforts. Local Sustainability Epicurean also helps to sustain the environment locally by:
Our Community | Our Mission | Our Vision |Our Planet | Sustainability and Africa |
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work.
The success of the communities with whom we do business is a critical
component of our own success.