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How Sheabutter was discovered by M. Mungo PARK

Scientific name : Butyrospermum parkii

The scientific name has been given in Mr Mungo PARK's honour. He was a great explorer, who first went upstream Gambia river at the end of the XVIIIth century.

Extracts from the book TRAVELS INTO THE INTERIOR OF AFRICA by M. Mungo PARK, Edinburgh 1797.

"they supply the inhabitants of the maritime districts with native iron, sweet-smelling gums, frankincense, and a commodity called shea-toulou, which, literally translated, signifies tree-butter. This commodity is extracted from the kernel of a nut by boiling the nut in water...

The extract has the consistency and appearance of butter ; and is an admirable substitute for it. It is.an important staple in the food of the natives and therefore the demand for it is great. ...

The people were everywhere employed in collecting the fruit of the shea trees. These trees grow in great abondance all over this part of Bambarra. They are not planted by the natives, but are found growing naturally in the woods ; and in clearing wood land for cultivation, every tree is cut down but the shea.

The tree itself very much resembles the American oak ; and the fruit, from the kernel of which, being first dried in the sun, the butter is prepared by boiling the kernel in water, has somewhat the appearance of a Spanish olive.

The kernel is envelopped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind.

The butter produced from it, besides the advantage of its keeping the whole year without salt, is whiter, f irmer, and, to my palate, of a richer flavour than the best butter I ever tasted made f rom cow's milk. The growth and préparation of this commodity seem to be among the first object of African industry in Bambarra and the neighbouring states; and it constitutes a main article of their inland commerce. "