Source of Chocolate for Body Products The source of chocolate is the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao); it belongs to the Sterculisceae botanical family. The cacao tree is a small, tropical tree which is native to Central and South America and the West Indies. Given that Reference by Spanish explorers in the late 17th century, the cacao tree is now cultivated in other tropical places such as West Africa, Ceylon and Java too.
They utilized the seeds of the cacao tree, cocoa beans, for numerous health disorders (such as injuries and snake bites), in addition to using the beans as a form of currency for trading. Cocoa Butter The usage of the cacao tree for making cocoa butter is not a brand-new concept; cocoa butter was first made from the cacao tree in 1695 (source: Provider Oils for Aromatherapy and Massage, Len Rate).
Cocoa butter is really a solid fat with an abundant, chocolate fragrance. Many cosmetic makers then warm up the fat in order to melt it together with other butters and oils (such as shea butter or sunflower oil) before a finished product is produced. Chocolate Important Oil It utilized to be that the bulk of essential oils that were drawn out from plants were either drawn out by distillation or cold expression.
Carbon dioxide extraction leaves no trace of the co2 in the last necessary oil that is produced but a lot of the healing properties of such oils have actually not yet been evaluated over a long length of time, unlike distilled necessary oils (source: Aromatherapy Workbook, Shirley Cost). Today it is possible to acquire a CO2 drawn out essential oil of Theobroma cacao; it has a sweet, chocolate fragrance.
Cacao Absolute Cacao absolute is likewise made from the cacao beans of the cacao tree; it has an abundant, dark chocolate fragrance. An absolute is drawn out in a various way to a vital oil and does not include 100% natural components. Absolutes are made from a concrete by alcohol extraction (a concrete uses a hydrocarbon solvent to draw out the oil from the plant).