The Shea tree can grow up as high as fifteen meters or 49.2 feet. From there, it can take as long as 40 to fifty years before it matures and is able to produce the nuts needed to make Shea butter (also known as peanut butter).
Shea tree grows uncultivated in 19 countries across the African continent, namely Central African Republic, Niger, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Guinea Bissau, Senegal, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire, Chad, Zaire, Uganda, Guinea, Nigeria.
In Ghana, it occurs much in the Guinea savannah and less abundantly in the Sudan Savannah. The shea tree occurs over almost the entire area of Northern Ghana, over about seventy seven thousand six hundred and seventy square kilometers in Wa, Southern Mamprusi, Western Gonja, Nanumba with Eastern Gonja, Western Dagomba, Tumu, Lawra having the densest stands.
The region that the tree grows in is known as the Shea belt region. This region stretches almost three thousand miles from Senegal in West Africa all the way across into Ethiopia.
The Shea tree is very unique in terms of its individual size followed by the area that it stretches. What's even more impressive and beneficial for you is the byproduct formed when the nuts are released from this special tree. It's Shea Butter.
In the West, shea is most often related with cosmetics. This "butter" has many uses and comes in two forms: Refined and Certified Organic Unrefined.
The refined version has been extracted with hexane, a toxic petrochemical and also has been severely overheated, which removes many of the powerful healing factors. The Certified Organic - Unrefined version, however, has been traditionally extracted and maintains its healing components to treat and heal various skin conditions. Throughout Africa, it is used extensively for food and medicinal purposes.
