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  • How are shea nuts processed in Ghana?
  • In the processing of the shea nuts, rural women from the north of Ghana, roast their shea nuts using open fire sources (i.e., unenclosed boundary). This practice comes with critical safety issues such as burns on the skin and uncontrolled heating rate which can bring about charring of the nuts prior to oil extraction.
  • How many kg of fresh shea nut per batch?
  • Basis: 60 kg of fresh shea nut per batch was chosen with the aim of obtaining at least 50 kg of shea kernel Fresh shea nut contains 40% moisture with approximately 40% of that moisture content removed by the rotary roaster. Shea nut is composed of 4% shell. 4.2.1. Material balance across the rotary roaster machine
  • What countries produce shea nut?
  • The main shea nut producing countries include Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Benin, Togo and Guinea. The total production capacity of these countries was estimated at 600,000 tons with an average of 350,000 tons exported in 2008 [1]. Accordingly, Ghana is one of the chief producers of this crop worldwide.
  • What is a shea nut roaster?
  • This is the machine where the fresh shea nut is roasted ( Fig. 3) using the heat generated from the firewood. It consists of three chambers: the rotary roaster containing the fresh fruits, the basement housing the heating medium i.e., heat from firewood and the insulator to prevents/controls heat loss.
  • What is shea butter?
  • Shea butter is an oil extract from the shea nut crop [4]. It is a triglyceride and is innately full of tocopherol, linoleic acid, linolenic acid, and retinol. In Ghana, shea butter is processed conventionally by womenfolk in the northern villages and traded in the local markets.
  • How to roast shea nuts?
  • Optimum roasting time and temperature are very necessary factors considered during roasting. In the processing of the shea nuts, rural women from the north of Ghana, roast their shea nuts using open fire sources (i.e., unenclosed boundary).