Sclerocarya Birrea Seed Oil

Sclerocarya birrea seed oil is a fatty emollient oil expressed from the seeds of Marula tree (Sclerocarya birrea) fruits, native to the African savannah. The fruits of the Marula tree have a fleshy pulp that can be eaten or fermented, whereas the pit contains the oily seed.

The seeds contain around 11% of the fatty oil - mainly made up of oleic (67%) and palmitic (16%) acid. The exact composition may naturally vary between harvest locations. The oil contains relatively little vitamin E when compared to other vegetable oils, but a lot of phytosterols (especially those that have antioxidant and emollient properties).

Sclerocarya birrea seed oil is very stable and a good emollient and occlusive moisturizing ingredient, although not often used due to the small-scale production of the oil (it is produced and used by locals as a cooking oil and not much is left for export). This is also a reason as to why there is not much information in the scientific publications.