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| Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity |
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10/07/2009 |
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Moroccan Argan Oil Producers Hosted By Slow Food
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From July 12 to 15 ten delegates from Morocco (Souss Massa Draa Region in the south west of the country) have attended a training course on argan oil tasting at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo.
Argan oil, a Slow Food Presidium since 2002, is a basic ingredient in the cuisine of the Berbers, a Semitic people already present in North Africa long before Arab settlement. Argan trees are similar to olives but only grow along the southern coast of Morocco, between Safi in the north and Goulimime to the south, in a poor, arid zone which is extremely hot during summer.
The production of argan oil is mainly women’s work: traditional knowledge and skills are passed down from mother to daughter. After the berries are harvested and dried, the women break the hard shells of the pits with rapid blows from a stone, then extract and grind the kernels.
Argan oil has recently been enjoying increasing commercial success in Europe and around the world. But there is a risk that small producers may be excluded from potential profits, and poor quality produce introduced onto the market. The Presidium’s role is all the more important.
The aim of the training event is to enable the producers to recognize, manage and promote the sensory characteristics of argan oil so they can guarantee its quality and authenticity. The next step will be setting up a local tasting panel which will act as a self-control group for the Presidium.
The three day course started on July 12 with a Round Table on Seed Oils, organized by Pariani (a hazelnut oil producer) in collaboration with Slow Food Italy. July 13 was dedicated to theoretical and practical taste training (argan oils from different cooperatives will be compared).
Six producers of argan oil have attended the seminar, along with an academic—a food technologist from the Ibn Zohr University in Agadir, a student writing a thesis on argan oil and an export expert from EACCE (Morocco’s Export Control Authority).
This initiative is part of a larger project supported by the Piedmont Regional Authority and organized by the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity in collaboration with the Ibn Al Baytar association.
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