How is cosmetic argan oil made by women's cooperatives?

Driving the road between Marrakech and Essaouira you pass through the argan belt — and you may see the famous goats balanced improbably in the spiny trees — but the real story happens inside the women's cooperatives that line the route. I have spent whole mornings sitting with the women on the floor of these workrooms, and the sound is unforgettable: the steady, rhythmic crack of stone on stone as they break open the nuts, hour after hour, chatting and laughing as they work.

The argan nut is fiendishly hard — harder than a hazelnut shell — and there is still no machine that cracks it as cleanly as a practised woman with two stones. She holds the nut on a flat stone and strikes it with another, splitting the shell to pick out the small almond-coloured kernels inside. It is slow, skilled, repetitive work, and a kilo of oil takes a staggering amount of it. This hand-cracking is the bottleneck and the reason real argan oil is precious.

For cosmetic oil — the kind for skin and hair — the raw kernels are NOT roasted (roasting is only for the nutty culinary oil you dip bread in). The women grind the raw kernels in a stone hand-mill, turning the heavy quern by hand, then add a little warm water and knead the resulting brown paste in a wide bowl, working it for a long time until the golden oil separates and runs out. Traditionally it is hand-pressed like this; some cooperatives now use a cold mechanical press for efficiency, but the cracking stays manual. The oil is then left to settle clear.

Visiting a genuine cooperative is one of the most worthwhile stops on the Essaouira road, and it matters socially — these cooperatives give rural Amazigh women independent income and education. You can watch the cracking and grinding, smell the difference between toasty culinary oil and light cosmetic oil, and buy direct, knowing where your money goes. Our guides know the authentic women-run ones from the roadside tourist traps, so ask us to build a stop into a coastal day.