AndirobaCarapa guianensis

Did you know?

• Andiroba belongs to the mahogany family, and its timber, sold as crabwood, goes into fine furniture, cabinetwork and flooring^{[2, 5]}.

• The name andiroba comes from the Indigenous Tupi language of Brazil, from the word ñandi'rowa^[8].

• Making andiroba oil the traditional way takes weeks. The seeds are boiled, left to rest for about two weeks, kneaded into a paste, and the oil slowly drips out^{[3, 4]}.

• It takes several kilograms of seed to make a liter of oil: about 6.5 kilograms in one island community in Pará, Brazil^{[3, 4]}.

• Nothing is wasted. The leftover paste is made into soap and candles, and the empty shells are burned so that their smoke keeps insects away^{[3, 4]}.

• Andiroba oil has long been burned in household lamps for light^{[2, 3, 5]}.

Origins and history

Andiroba is a tall tree with a straight, cylindrical trunk. It usually reaches up to 35 meters and occasionally 55 meters^{[2, 5]}, and it grows mostly along rivers and in seasonally flooded or swampy forest^{[2, 4]}. Its native range runs from Central America and the Caribbean through northern South America to the Amazon^{[1, 2, 5]}. The fruit is a round, woody capsule with four lobes that splits open to release its seeds, and it is these seeds that hold the oil^{[2, 5]}.

In the Amazon, andiroba oil is still made by hand, mostly by women in riverside communities^{[3, 4]}. In one study in Amazonas state the makers were married women over 35, and young people no longer took part^[3]. The seeds are gathered from the ground, boiled in water for a few hours, and then left to rest, usually for about two weeks^{[3, 4]}. The shells are removed and the kernels are kneaded by hand into a paste, which is spread on a sloping board, often in the shade^{[3, 4]}. Every day the paste is kneaded again, and over the following weeks the oil slowly drips out and is collected^{[3, 4]}. It is slow work: the same Amazonas study found that makers needed anywhere from 2 to 11 kilograms of seed for each liter of oil^[3].

The oil and its leftovers have many household uses. Andiroba oil has long been burned in lamps^{[2, 3, 5]}; the leftover paste goes into soap and candles^{[2, 3, 4]}; and the burned shells give a smoke that keeps insects away^{[3, 4]}. Today andiroba oil is also sought after by the cosmetics industry, and it is sold beyond Brazil^{[3, 4]}. The tree's timber, crabwood, is valued for furniture, cabinetwork and flooring^{[2, 5]}.

Traditional uses

Clinical studies in people are still few, but andiroba oil has a long and practical place in Amazonian homes^{[3, 4]}.

• Skin and hair

  In the Amazon, andiroba oil is rubbed onto the skin and worked into the hair^{[3, 5]}. Andiroba oil moisturizes and conditions the skin and hair.*

• Soap-making

  Crude andiroba oil and the paste left over from making it are turned into soap.^{[2, 3, 4]}

• Light

  The oil is burned in household lamps, and the leftover paste is made into candles.^{[2, 3, 4]}

Plant compounds

Like other seed oils, andiroba oil is made mostly of fats. What sets it apart is a group of plant compounds called limonoids: scientists have isolated many different limonoids from andiroba's seed, flower and fruit oils, and new ones are still being described^{[6, 7]}. One family of them, the andirobin-type limonoids, takes its name from the tree^[7].