5 ways to identify good quality argan oil

A little while ago I wrote a post about how to identify good quality argan oil. This is the follow up ….

1. It’s all in the argan nuts
in reality the argan nut is not a nut, its’ a fruit and the little thing that is pressed to extract the glorious oil is the kernel of the argan fruit.
Since the industry has gone rampant, some producers might use argan kernels that are old and mouldy.

2. These two lovely ladies.
You have probably seen this picture of these two lovely ladies working hard pressing argan oil. Many companies use this stock image and it appears like these two must be hand grinding and pressing argan oil for half of the world population!

Companies want you to believe that the oil is hand pressed and that you are getting an exotic artisan product. The argan kernels might be cracked between two stones by hand, but pressing the oil is another ballgame. Back in the days,  the oil was extracted from the argan cake using water. Which was ok for life on the farm, as the oil only needed to be preserved for 3 months.

Adding water to argan oil makes it oxidise rapidly and deteriorate all the good components of the oil. It doesn’t sound as exotic, but once the argan kernels are cracked by hand, they are then pressed in special machines to extract the oil.

3. Deodorised
Watch out for this one! When argan oil is deodorised it goes through a steam and chemical treatment, which basically strips the argan oil of its wonderful qualities.

4. Light like a feather
Argan oil is the favourite product for the beauty industry as it can be included in skin and hair care products. It should be light as a feather and not leave a greasy residue.

5. Pure Argan oil
How do you know that what you are using is pure argan oil if it says it on the bottle? Well you don’t. You can only assume that it is. Unfortunately some oils on the market are mixed with inferior oils to maximise profit.

What makes Mira’s Hand argan oil different?
We are Moroccan ourselves and know the industry and the region very well. We work directly with our producers. Our argan oil is pressed for us every three months under a strict quality control system, is lab tested and packaged with the most care and flown out to Australia, not shipped, 3 days after pressing. We bring in only small batches of argan oil to secure the freshest and highest quality argan oil available on the international market.