Shea Butter is a slightly yellowish or ivory-coloured natural fat extracted from the nut of the shea tree. The shea or karite tree, formerly Butyrospermum pardoxum, is now called Vitellaria paradoxa and is a tree indigenous to Africa. Shea butter is mostly used in cosmetics as a moisturiser and emollient. Pure shea butter is also edible and is at times used in the chocolate industry as a substitute for cocoa butter. The shea tree grows naturally in the wild in the dry Savannah belt of West Africa, from Senegal in the west to Sudan in the East, and onto the foothills of the Ethiopian highlands. It occurs in 19 countries across the African continent, namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Guinea., Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zaire.

It produces its first fruit (which resemble large green plums) when it is about 20 years old and reaches full production when the tree is about 45 to 50 years old. It continues to produce fruit for 250 to 300 years after reaching maturity. Many vernacular names are used for Vitellaria, which is a reflection of its extensive range of occurrence – nearly 5,000km from Senegal (west) to Uganda (east) across the African Continent. The nomenclature, history and synonymy of the shea tree followed a very tortuous evolution since the oldest recorded specimen collected by a European - Scottish explorer Mungo-Park on May 26, 1797. It eventually arrived at the name vitellaria with subspecies paradoxa and nilotica. It usually grows to an average height of about 15m with profuse branches and a thick waxy and deeply fissured dark bark that makes it incredibly fire resistant.

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The shea tree occurs over almost the entire area of Northern Ghana - about 77,670 square kilometres - in Western Dagomba, Southern Mamprusi, Western Gonja, Lawra, Tumu, Wa and Nanumba, with Eastern Gonja having the densest stands. There is sparse shea tree cover found in Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti, and the Eastern and Volta regions in the south of the country.

Inkuto shea butter is handcrafted to organic standards, which ensures that our shea butter is of the highest quality and guaranteed to be fresh.