# Shea Butter Nut?



## Truly

So I opened my second box of shea today and found a huge nut. I guess it's called a nut.

Talk about unrefined.

It was cracked, but not broken completely open. I broke a piece off to see better the contents. Just like the stuff in the bags, but solid.

I was not expecting this. The shell is very light, so I didn't loose too much on the weight of my order, if any as it calculated to slightly more than my order.

Anyone else ever receive their shea in the nut?


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## kidsngarden

Nope. how big is a shea nut anyway? I know they have to cook and smoosh and stuff to make the butter, even if it is unrefined. I don't think they just pop open a nut and send it. Seems like they would have actually had to fill the nut to send it that way.

Wierd.


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## Truly

It's bigger than a basketball. Maybe 15 inches in diameter.

I rolled it over some more and it is open on the side that was down. The stuff inside is definitely ready to use, so if there was something they had to do to it first, then they just put it back in the shell. Yes, very wierd.

There is a little mold on it in places; well I'm guessing it's mold. Kind of looks like the growths you get on cheese; some white, some dark.

I will be straining it after it's melted. Should I scrape this "mold" b4 I melt it?


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## kidsngarden

WOW!!! I've been reading up on shea butter and how it is made and the agbanga site says the women may walk 10 or more miles a day to collect shea nuts - - those are some big nuts to haul around! (oops, did I just say that? :blush2, tee hee!) Seriously though, it is weird. Maybe they were proving to you how very unrefined it is, or they thought it was a cool novelty. 

The mold I would definetely scrape off. ugh, I'm fairly new to this unrefined shea thing, but mold hasn't happened to me...


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## Ravens Haven

Can you post a pic? I have never seen a shea nut before...This is so cool


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## Belle

Yes, please post a picture. I want to see this too! :lol


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## Truly

Ok, here's a pic. I put the can in the pic so you can estimate the size.


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## Guest

Wow! That is so cool! I had no idea the nuts where that big.

Sara


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## Belle

:jawdrop 
Thats just bizare, but very neat, thank you so much for sharing!


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## Whitney

Very neat! But so strange that they sent you that!


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## kidsngarden

Thanks for the picture! Pretty neat anyway!


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## Guest

That is sooo cool!!! Can you clean it up and use it for display with your products? That is a strong visual for unrefined Shea 

Christy


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## Sondra

Gosh that is hugh compared to different pictures here of the nuts. 
http://www.uiowa.edu/~africart/Burkina towns and landscape/source/burkina_0072_pelignan.htm

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...nuts&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1B2GGIC_enUS203US203&sa=N


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## Guest

:yeahthat

I just google imaged Shea Nut and Karite Nut, they are small! I'd call the place where you got your shea and ask them about it :?

Christy


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## Sondra

yep me too don't think this is normal especially now that you say "MOLD"


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## kidsngarden

Yes, the pictures Sondra had are far more consistent to what I have read about then that big ole nut you've got in there!

I wonder is it possible for an oil to mold? I know they go rancid, but I've never seen and oil with mold on it....


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## [email protected]

I thought I had read that poured the shea butter back into gourds after the crushed the shea nuts. Maybe that's really a gourd and not a nut? I don't think they dig the shea butter out of nuts like that. I thought they crushed the nuts, boiled them, cooled the fat which rose to the top and packed it into gourds.


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## kidsngarden

That makes a lot of sense!


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## Kalne

How cool!


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## Truly

I hope you're right cuz this whole thing has me a bit embarrassed :blush2

It's definitely some type of plant material. I've never seen a gourd like that, but is sure could be.

kidsngarden, I've never seen oil mold, but this is unrefined butter. It's just on the outside in places. Like i said, a lot like the mold you find on cheese that's been in the fridge for a while; just on the surface.


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## kidsngarden

Could be that the gourd wasn't fully dried so that ther are bits of it molding that got on the shea? Or moisture was locked in there? 

No need to be embarassed - you weren't the one who sent the shea in a "nut" or gourd or whatever!


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## Sondra

AH yep Jo is right they store it in gourds so what your seeing is probably just a rub off of the gourd. I think it is really really neat that you got it in this gourd just like it is stored there. 
http://www.ahshayh.com/facts.html


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## Theresa

Yeah, that is really cool! Thanks for share. Theresa


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## NubianSoaps.com

And the gourd would have had veggy material in it and on it that peeled out and of course it could mold. I was so hoping that you have a whole nut, not a gourd, we could have had a bidding war, I want some for a display. Even my guy can't get me any and he is from Algeria.

So someone find us some real shea butter nuts! Vicki


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## Sondra

Not going to happen Vicki USA won't allow them in for processing so only exported in to Europe for use in chocolate a few into Japan.


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## NubianSoaps.com

And Sondra, when has that stopped us before  Vicki


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## kidsngarden

I need to do a fair trade unrefined shea coop very soon - if I can get anyone after truly's great coop here, and Carrie's coop on the whisk that is! I will see if Agbanga can get us shea nuts. Who knows? Can't hurt to ask.


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