Theobroma Grandiflorum Seed Butter

Theobroma grandiflorum seed butter is a fatty, emollient, semi-solid butter obtained from the seeds of the Theobroma grandiflorum fruit. It is commonly known as cupuaçu butter and the tree is closely related to the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao).

Cupuacu butter is an occlusive moisturizing and emollient ingredient due to its content of fatty acid triglycerides: mainly equal amounts of stearic and oleic acid (38%), followed by palmitic and arachidic acid. The high level of saturation is responsible for its butter-like consistency, similar to that of cocoa butter. It melts at body temperature - which makes it a good base fat for skincare products.

Unlike most oils, however, it also has the ability to emulsify water up to 4x its weight. This means that you can take one part of Theobroma grandiflorum seed butter, four parts of water, slowly mix them together, and this will create a stable emulsion. In comparison, lanolin can only take in 2.5x and shea butter 3x its weight of water.

These emulsifying and emulsion stabilizing properties are important for skincare products.