The ‘best’ production procedure of the Argan oil

The traditional way of Argan oil extraction

The traditional way of Argan oil extraction, which we have already described earlier under the heading "production“, is apt to bring about fine, high-quality oils. It is based on skills and long term experiences of Moroccans, who still keep passing on their knowledge from one generation to the next. The actual oil production itself mostly takes place under rather bad food-hygienic circumstances. The oil extraction process requires water, but instead of using only small amounts of it, as necessary, more water is usually added, resulting in changes of the oil’s composition.

The semi-industrial production of Argan oil

Semi-industrial production of Argan oil means, that the almonds of the Argan tree are no longer grinded manually in a stone mill, but with an electric respectively hydraulic oil press instead. In order to avoid contamination of the Argan oil the oil presses are generally made of stainless steel. The advantages of the use of this kind of presses are manifold: first of all, an additional use of water becomes unnecessary and the crop yields are about 13 percentage points higher than usual. Also, the quality of the oil is by no means negatively influenced by the use of modern oil presses or even centrifuges.

There is always the tendency to pledge technology guilty. But the problem is rather, that in order to receive higher yields, Argan oil is often exposed to high pressing temperatures. A result of this procedure is, that fatty acids face changes in their structure and part of the oil’s precious ingredients reduce drastically, which as a matter of fact can definitely not be the oil press inventors’ intention. Some scrupulous producers “feed” their presses with the almond’s (nut) shells and the fruit’s bitter pulp, whereas Argan oil extracted this way can easily be recognized by its bitter aroma (i.e. smell and taste).

What really matters in the process of Argan oil extraction

It is therefore not a question of whether a mill is operated manually or by motor power, whether the Argan oil is produced manually or automatically – in the end, only the corporate culture matters. Quality conscious companies are able to extract Argan oil by using either kind of mill in order to produce valuable oil.

A 56-pages study dating July 2007 came to the following conclusion: “The production criteria examined (procedure, roasting, region) all have an immense impact on the quality of Argan oils.” The original text says: “Les critères de production étudiés (Procédé, Torréfaction, Région) n’ont pas d’effet significatif sur la qualité des huiles d’Argane.“ The study titled: “ETUDE DE QUALITÉ DES HUILES D’ARGANE AU MAROC“ has partially been financed by the EU and is as full-text version at our (free) disposal.

Chemical extraction of Argan oil

Argan oil can also be produced by chemical extraction. For this kind of procedure, the almonds are first pulverized and then suspended in solvents. Afterwards, the chemicals are vaporized. What remains is an Argan oil still containing slight spurs of the used solvents. To avoid any oxidation of the fatty acid, antioxidants, especially tocopherols and ascorbyl palmitate may also be added to the oil. Argan oil produced by chemical extraction can easily be recognized by its hay yellow color. For us, chemical extraction of Argan oil is not the path, we want to take!

Refining: chemical knock-out for the Argan oil

Some Argan oils are refined after their extraction. Behind the concept of refinement there lies a whole series of chemo-technical procedures. All these procedures serve one purpose in particular: without considering losses the Argan oil is optimized for trade and industrial processing, or as the food industry affectionately calls it, the oil is being "improved". The result of these procedures is a bright and taste-neutral Argan oil. Although the oil yield is much higher because of these procedures, nevertheless, valuable ingredients get lost.

It is worth admiring, which possibilities and devices are nowadays available to the food technology in order to turn pure Argan oil into an unhealthy and completely denaturized fat product.