and 



100 THE AKQAN TREE OP MAROCCO. 



tliat of common olive oil, it may be useful to enter into some details on 

 tlie subject. I have myself been present during the whole operation, 

 and consequently speak from experience. 



"In the end of March the countryman goes into the wood, where 

 the fruits are shaken down from the trees and stript of their husks on 

 the spot. The green fleshy pericarp, which is good for notliing else, 

 is greedily eaten by ruminating animals, such as camels, goats, sheep, 

 cows, but especially by the two first. Therefore when the x\rab 

 goes into the woods to collect Argan nuts, he gladly takes with 

 him his herds of the above animals, that they may eat their fill of the 

 green husks, whilst he and his family are collecting and shelling the 

 nuts- The horse, the ass, and the mule, on the contrary, do not like 

 this food. When a sufficient quantity of nuts are collected they are 

 brought home, the hard wooden shell is cracked between stones, and 

 the inner white kernels are carefully extracted. These are roasted or 

 burnt like coffee on earthen, stone, or iron plates ; in order that they 

 may not be too much done, they are constantly stirred with a stick. 

 When properly roasted they should be all over of a brown colour, but 

 not charred on the outside. The smoke which is disengaged during 

 the process, has a very agreeable odour. As soon as the kernels have 

 cooled, they are ground in a handmill, into a thick meal, not unlike 

 that of pounded almonds, only that it is of a brown colour, and the 

 meal is put into a vessel, in which the oil is separated, which is done 

 by sprinkling the mass every now and then with hot water, and keeping 

 it constantly stirred and kneaded with the hand. This process is 

 carried on till the mass becomes so hard that it can no longer be 

 kneaded: the harder and firmer are the residuaiy coarse parts, the 

 more completely is the oil extracted. At the last, cold water is sprin- 

 kled upon it, in order, as they say, to expel the last particles of the oil- 

 During the operation the oil runs out at the sides, and is from time to 



poured out into a clean vessel. The main point to be attended to 



;mi 



quality 



is that it should be well kneaded, and that the proper proportion of 

 hot water for the extraction of the oil should be used; it is always 

 safer to be sparing of it, than to be too profuse. The residuary mass, 

 often as hard as a stone, is of a black-brown colour, and has a disa- 

 greeable bitter flavour. The oil itself, when it has settled, is clear, of a 

 light brown colour, and hag a rancid smell and flavour* When it is 



