Argand’Or Argan Oil, a precious gourmet oil hand-crafted by self-governing Berber women cooperatives of the Maghreb and a member of the new class of healthy Superfoods will be introduced to the US market at All Things Organic 2007.
Since its launch in Europe two years ago, star chefs and connoisseurs alike are drawn to the unique and delectable taste and superb quality of Argand’Or Argan oil. Only weeks after the launch, Argand’Or Argan oil won the prestigious “Product of the Year” Award at BioFach 2005, the world’s premier trade show for organic foods. Since then, Argan Oil has become a key ingredient in cuisines of leading gourmet chefs in Europe and Japan, who use it to add a new dimension to salads, hors d’oeuvre, grilled vegetables as well as fish and meat dishes.
An increasing number of scientific studies prove what indigenous Berbers have known for centuries: This delicious oil, with its high level of anti-oxidants, essential fatty acids and an extraordinary combination of rare plant sterols, helps people to remain healthy. Studies revealed that Argan oil contains a massive 630mg of tocopherols per liter, anti-oxidants known for supporting the human body in the fight against free-radicals, oxidative stress and cell death.
Argan Oil is extremely rare and valuable - the primordial Argan forest which covered wide parts of the Maghreb and protected fertile lands from desertification has all but disappeared. To save the Argan tree, UNESCO declared the Arganeraie in Morocco’s rural Southwest, the only region where the Argan tree survives, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
In the last decade, visionary Berber women set out to help save the Argan forest and keep the traditional art of Argan Oil production alive. In stark contrast to industrialized manufacturing of Argan Oil, these courageous women produce Argan oil of highest quality entirely by hand, using artisan equipment such as stone mills, and locally harvested Argan nuts of highest quality. Today, women in more than twenty cooperatives, united in the Union of Women’s Cooperatives of the Arganeraie (UCFA), support their families and rural economies by hand-crafting this wonderful oil.
In 2004, Argand’Or GmbH of Germany, founded by Moroccan Engineer Mohamed El Karz, joined forces with the UCFA to market hand-pressed Argan Oil internationally. Argand’Or pays fair prices well above market and supports the cooperatives in quality assurance and local development projects. Newly founded World Artisan Guild LLC of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is the exclusive US importer of Argand’Or Argan Oil.
Argand’Or Argan Oil is made solely from wild harvested Argan nuts, 100% organic and pure. It is the only gourmet quality hand-pressed Argan oil available in the United States.
Contact:
Stefan Hauke
World Artisan Guild LLC
Direct Line: (414) 431-8652
stefan@worldartisanguild.com
