A Splash Of Beauty

Chefs are turning a rare Moroccan oil from a cosmetic product into an expensive edible delight.

- Kate Krader

Over the past decade, a trend we’ll call farm to face (beauty products based on ingredients traditionally found on a plate) has exploded. From Green tea cleansers and turmeric creams to Philippine pili nut oil serums, natural treatments dominate the cosmetic world. Rarely does an ingredient cross the aisle the other way, from beauty to hot culinary commodity. Argan oil is the exception.

The short, bushy argan tree, abundant in Morocco, is the source of the nutritionally rich oil. Historically, the nuts were retrieved from the droppings of goats that climbed the trees to eat the fruit. That practice has unsurprisingly been phased out; now the nuts and the oil-producing kernels within are harvested by hand. Unlike cosmetic argan oil, the fluid that’s destined to be a culinary product comes from kernels that are roasted before pressing. The resulting flavour is earthy and slightly smoky; while premium olive oils tend toward grassy or buttery flavours, argan oil has an underlying nuttiness, without the in-your-face flavour of varieties such as pumpkin seed. It smells like peanut butter.