Shea butter

Description

A yellowish fat extracted from the nuts of the shea tree, Butyrospermum parkii, native to Africa. Shea butter contains primarily acid oleic and acid stearic acids with some acid lauric acid. It was used for oiling and stuffing leather. Shea butter is also used as a butter substitute and as an ingredient in soap and candles.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Butyrospermum parkii; manteca de karit (Esp.); Bambuk butter; Galam butter; karit; kade; Shebu [R.I.T.A]

Melting Point	33-42

Authority

• G.S.Brady, G.S.Brady, Materials Handbook, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1971 Comment: p.844

• Richard S. Lewis, Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993

• Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Matt Roberts, Don Etherington, Bookbinding and the Conservation of Books: a Dictionary of Descriptive Terminology, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1982

• Random House, Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998