Shea Butter
INCI Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter. Saponified with NaOH it is listed as Sodium Shea Butterate, with KOH as Potassium Shea Butterate. Also: Butyrospermum parkii butter, Karite butter, Vitellaria paradoxa butter.
Published values
| Saponification value | 160–200 mg KOH/g |
| Used by the calculator | 180.0 mg KOH/g (midpoint) |
| SAP for NaOH | 0.1283 g/g |
| Iodine value | 30–75 g I₂/100 g |
| INS (SAP − IV) | 128 |
| Melting point | 33–40.5 °C |
| Unsaponifiable matter | 2.4–11.6 % (typ. 6.2) |
A bar made of 100 % Shea Butter
Conventional qualities summed from the fatty-acid groups; a single-oil bar is a reference point, not a recipe.
Fatty-acid profile
| Fatty acid | Published range, % | Used | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Palmitic acid | C16:0 · saturated | 1.9–5 | 3.5 |
| Stearic acid | C18:0 · saturated | 27.7–55.7 | 41.7 |
| Oleic acid | C18:1 | 34–60.7 | 47.4 |
| Linoleic acid | C18:2 | 4.4–7.9 | 6.2 |
| Arachidic acid | C20:0 · saturated | 0–1.8 | 0.9 |
Where these numbers come from
Table 5 (GLC fatty-acid composition of 36 individual shea nut samples) and Results sections 3.2 (NSL/non-saponifiable lipid content, Table 2) and 3.5 (fatty-acid prose ranges) supplied the fattyAcidsPercent and unsaponifiablePercent fields.
Standard for 'Shea butter (Unrefined)': iodine value 30-75, saponification value 160-200 (used for those two fields), unsaponifiable matter not more than 19%, free fatty acids not more than 8%, refractive index 1.4620-1.4650 at 44 C. Item inserted by 2019 amendment, gazetted 2021.
Table 4: traditional wet-extracted butter (SBT) SAP 167.4 mg KOH/g, iodine 21.43 gI2/100g, melting point 33.0 C; solvent-extracted butter (SBS) SAP 202.9 mg KOH/g, iodine 13.19 gI2/100g, melting point 40.5 C. Nigerian samples. Melting-point figures used for the field; its iodine values were treated as an outlier and not used (see notes).
Ivory Coast beige/yellow shea butter: iodine 52.64/53.06 gI2/100g (corroborates the FSSAI-sourced field). Its unsaponifiable matter (17.61%/17.27%) and fatty acids (palmitic 16.42%/26.36%, stearic 32.39%/36.36%, oleic 38.12%/29.09%, linoleic 9.72%/5.92%, arachidic 1.84%/1.59%) were NOT used - inconsistent with Akihisa et al.'s much larger 36-sample dataset, recorded here only for transparency.
FATTY ACIDS AND UNSAPONIFIABLE MATTER (both from the primary source): Akihisa et al. 2010 (J Oleo Sci) ran GLC on 36 individually-analyzed shea kernel fat samples from 7 countries (Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroun, Chad, Sudan, Uganda). Its own prose-stated ranges (Results 3.5): oleic 34.0-60.7%, stearic 27.7-55.7%, linoleic 4.4-7.9%, palmitic 1.9-5.0%, arachidic 'tr-1.8%' (trace treated as 0 for min). Myristic acid was present only as 'tr' (trace) throughout all 36 samples in Table 5, with no quantified range stated, so it is left out rather than guessed. Unsaponifiable matter uses this paper's 'NSL' (non-saponifiable lipid) content, Table 2/Results 3.2: range 2.4-11.6% across the 36 samples, mean 6.2% (used as typical) - NSL is obtained by saponification and partition, the same concept the AOCS 'unsaponifiable matter' test targets. SAPONIFICATION VALUE 160-200 mg KOH/g and IODINE VALUE 30-75 gI2/100g are both from the FSSAI (India) regulatory standard for unrefined shea butter (see provenance) rather than from Akihisa et al., which does not report either classical constant. Two additional primary sources were checked and partly corroborate, partly conflict: Ajala et al. 2015 (PMC4711458, Nigerian samples) measured SAP 167.4 mg KOH/g (traditional wet extraction) and 202.9 mg KOH/g (solvent extraction, slightly above the FSSAI ceiling), and melting point 33.0 C / 40.5 C for the same two extraction methods (used as the meltingPointC field, since no other primary source measured it) - but its iodine values (21.43 and 13.19 gI2/100g) are far below every other source checked and were treated as a discrepant outlier, excluded from the field. Megnanou & Niamke 2015 (PMC4631807, two Ivory Coast composite samples, beige/yellow) measured iodine 52.64/53.06 gI2/100g, comfortably inside the FSSAI band (used only as corroboration, not the field itself, which already came from FSSAI); but its fatty-acid figures (palmitic 16.42%/26.36%, stearic 32.39%/36.36%, oleic 38.12%/29.09%, linoleic 9.72%/5.92%, arachidic 1.84%/1.59%) and unsaponifiable matter (17.61%/17.27%) are far outside Akihisa's 36-sample range - especially palmitic, which every other source puts at roughly 2-5%, not 16-26% - so these Megnanou figures were NOT used for any field, recorded here only for transparency. See shea-butter-refined.json for AAK's refined (RBD) commercial product spec, which is a meaningfully tighter/different profile.
This record is part of the open ingredient database (ODbL). Found an error or a better primary source? The dataset is on GitHub; corrections with a document link are welcome.