Argan Oil is made from the edible part of the nuts inside the shell of Argan fruit. Argan tree found mostly in Southwestern Morocco is millions of years old tree. It has gained importance in recent decades throughout the world because of the medical benefits of its extracted oil. Argan Oil is increasingly coming under notice of outside world due to its manifold usage both for dietary and cosmetic purposes. However, its cosmetic use has gained solid grounds very quickly. It is because of its potential uses that a great interest is taken recently for the preservation of fast vanishing Argan trees.

Argan tree or scientific name Argania Spinosa used to cover North Africa and now endangered and under protection of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Argan tree grow wild at dessert with deep root system that help protect soil erosion at North Sahara. This unique plant life in an area covering a wide range of terrain Intramontane, more than 2,560,000 hectares, bordering the High Atlas and Little Atlas Mountains and is open to the Atlantic in the west. Argan oil remains one of the rarest oils in the world because of the small growing areas and very specific.

Argan Oil has traditionally been extracted by Berbers from the residue indigestible seeds found in the dung using indigenous tools. Goats eat the Argan fruit and excrete indigestible seeds. These seeds are ground and pressed by women to extract oil with smell and taste of nuts. Different shaped rocks and quern stones are used for pressing and cracking the oil containing seeds. It is a very lengthy process and can take several days to complete.

But it has two major advantages over all other methods. One, because the whole process of production from harvest to oil extraction is done by the same people, use of best seeds for oil production can be assured. Second advantage is that the problem of oxidization of exposed seeds becomes irrelevant because of the immediate processing of obtained seeds. On the other hand, in industrial methods seeds are separately acquired from the market. Those seeds are more prone to oxidization due to longer exposure to environment.

Now more sophisticated and advanced mechanical method is used for Argan Oil extraction. When commercial interest of private local and multinational entrepreneurs increased in the Argan Oil production in early 1990's, there was felt a need for a more efficient and time conserving method for the extraction of Argan Oil on commercial level. Argan Oil extracted using this method can be preserved for 12 to 18 months. In this method powdered kernels by tampering it with water to make a pasty substance. It takes only a couple of hours to extract one liter of oil using this method.

This method is used when oil is required for industrial or laboratory purposes. In this method oil is directly absorbed in chemical solvents from ground kernels. Oil extracted using this method is not that fit for cosmetic uses compared to other two methods, but it is the highest yielding method of all the three.