How is Avocado Oil Made?
The trendiest fruit on earth! Loved by millennials, eaten on the ubiquitous avocado toast and mashed into a million bowls of guacamole. People all over the world love to eat avocados, but have you included them in your skincare routine yet?
In the lush fertile soils of Kenya, avocado trees thrive. Small scale farmers grow avocado trees next to other crops like macadamia and coffee, but are often left out of pocket when the fussy large scale exporters reject their fruit for the slightest imperfection.
Our Cold Pressed Avocado Oil producers work with these farmers to buy their rejected avocados and turn them into oil - the ultimate in recycling! The fruit is collected from the farm gate and the farmer is paid on the spot for the weight of the fruit, giving them a much needed boost of income.
The avocados are then cold pressed which means the flesh of the avocados is squeezed at temperatures below 35°C, keeping all the precious nutrients intact. This processing is carried out in Kenya, which allows the local economy to benefit from the value added to the avocado oil after extraction.
The community impact
Our virgin avocado oil is produced with the local community at its heart. Our supplier gives the farmers access to revolving credit to help them purchase organic fertilisers, new seedlings and soil improvers.
Our supplier employs 6 field officers to provide farming support and education to the local community.
Importantly, our supplier offers the farmers stable pricing with a reasonable safety net price to protect farmers from market price fluctuations. We pay in advance to help the farmers get paid for their crop quicker.
Our virgin avocado oil supports over 700 small-scale farmers, 40% of which are women. This is important in an area where income and independence for women can be hard to come by.
What is our virgin avocado oil like?
Our Virgin Avocado Oil is the most beautiful dark emerald green and has quite a thick consistency. Packed full of essential fatty acids, minerals and vitamin E.
We also source our organic cold pressed avocado oil in the same way, and it has been certified by the Soil Association to the COSMOS standard.
Our founder Andy uses Virgin Avocado Oil every day. He’s shared his favourite ways to use it:
- I use it in our hand treatment recipe in place of the refined avocado oil to help reduce the soreness and itching of eczema on my hands.
- As a scalp treatment. If you have a dry or itchy scalp then massaging warm avocado oil into your scalp, leaving on for 15 minutes and then washing away with a mild shampoo can work wonders.
