Here's to all that is Argan

We had heard about the Argan tree and its attributes from Hakim on our journey back to Ouarzazate. He showed us a solitary tree high up on a mountain that was the only Argan tree that side of the mountain so was revered and worshipped by the local people as it was so rare to see it there 100s of kms away from the only region that it grows in the world. We had never heard of this oil before but had tried it mixed with ground almonds and honey. The oil is of similar taste to hazelnut so the mixture tasted like nutella…nice on crepes for breakfast at Joy and Hakims. The interesting thing about this oil is how it is harvested. The tree itself is very woody and is also prized for its firewood. The tree produces berries about the size of large olives. Traditionally the goat herders bring their flock to the tree then let them climb the tree to eat the berries. What a sight that was. We were lucky to see this several times on the bus trip to Essaouria. There are 1000s of those trees in this area only. Nowadays women also harvest them to cut out the middle man or actually goat. The seed is harvested from the dung of the goat and the husk is removed easily because the digestive juices from the goat have broken down the hard shell. The kernel is then crushed, pulped then the oil is extracted. 30 kgs of the nuts yields 1litre of oil for 15 hours of manual labour . They have made special grinding stones from larger stones for this process. It is quite incredible. The oil is made into soap, face cream for anti wrinkles.. vitamin E and is great for fighting high cholesterol. It is used in cooking and for dressings for salads. It is delicious .The Moroccans buy it in empty water bottles etc so cuts down packaging. We can buy it but it is expensive. I bought the shampoo and will buy some soap. It is environmentally safe and completely organic. It was fun spotting the goats. The terrain was quite hilly and we crossed over some very steep river valleys with huge banana plantations…very fertile area. The farmers were ploughing the paddocks with donkeys and camels. Never seen that before but yes two camels attached to the yoke pulling the wooden plough. Lots of walls made from the stone to divide the fields. Another great journey to another wonderful destination.