Visit of an Argan Cooperative

I was very fortunate to have the oppurtunity, during my stay in Morocco, to visit privately the Argan Cooperative Kaouki thanks to an acquaitance . The cooperative is located near the Dar El Baz Museum in Sidi Kaouki on the road towards Agadir. An about 20 minute drive from Essaouira.



The argan tree is native to southwestern Morocco. This hardy and resistant tree can survive more than 100 years in very poor soil under drought conditions, requiring no cultivation.
Since 1998 argan forest is listed as part of of the world's biosphere by UNESCO. It comprises an area of about 800 000 ha.
Unique in the world. It only grows in the South region from Safi to the city of Taroudant. Although the argan is Morocco’s second most common tree species, in less than a century over a third of the argan forest has disappeared and is now in danger of extinction.



Berber women, a workforce of 2500, harvest and make the oil mostly by traditional methods, a labor intensive process even though an electric press and filtering machine is used. These cooperatives improve women's social and economic condition.
One liter of extracted oil requires 40 kg of fruit and 12 hours of work.




The production process:
Each nut then must be cracked open to remove the kernels, done by hand with stones. The kernels then are manually sorted from the nutshells.









Grounding in hand-mills





Nutshells are used for heating fuel, feed for livestock





Next they are put through an electrical press for grinding and extraction, and then filtered. It’s a cold first pressed oil yielding a high nutritive quality.
















Mainly known for it's oil, argan has been processed for centuries for food, folk medecine, and cosmetics.
The purchase of these products contributes to literacy programs and to the protection of a forest, which the local inhabitants depend upon. Most of all, it contributes to the livelihoods of many women and their families.
Tourism is being developped in the area.They are building an argan oil spa hotel in Sidi Kaoki with a gastronomic restaurant and cooking classes.

Strawberry and Almond Scones with Mascarpone

This recipe was inspired by the original Cheese Board: Collective Works breakfast scone. They also remind me of wonderful scones I tasted in Los Angeles at the Rose Garden Tea Room in the Huntington Gardens.They were crumbly and not too sweet .

Makes 4 to 6 Scones

Preparation time including baking: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 pinch kosher salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes

1/4 cup (or more) fresh or dried strawberries

1/4 cup mascarpone cream

1 yogurt

Topping

sugar

ground cinnamon

slivered almonds

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.

Sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together into a large bowl.

Add the salt and sugar to the bowl and stir with a fork until combined. Add the butter .Mix with hands. Make a well in the center and add the cream and yogurt. Mix briefly, just until the ingredients come together; some loose flour should remain at the bottom of the bowl. Mix in the strawberries.

Gently shape the dough into a ball that you preslice .They should have a rough, rocky exterior) and place them on the prepared pan about 2 inches apart.

For the topping, mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Sprinkle the mixture with slivered almonds on the top of the scones. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Transfer the scones to a wire rack to cool.

Pistachio Cake with Rasberries

Recently It was my nephew Ethan's birthday. I was planning to make a simple chocolate cake, but Ethan is very opinionated and
preferred a cake with his favorite fruit: rasberries! How could you resist the 8 year old cutey? I wanted something rather light. In this pistachio cake there's no butter, hardly any flour and not too much sugar. Yet the texture is deliciously moist!

Ingredients
-1 cup of powdered sugar
-3 eggs
-1 1/2 cups of ground pistachio and almond
- 1Tbs flour
-1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 greek yogurt
- rasberry purée
- fresh rasberries

Preheat the oven to 350°( 180°c). Prepare egg whites. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat egg yolks and sugar well. Add the yogurt, then the ground pistachio and almond,the flour and baking powder. Lastly, fold through with the firm egg whites.
Pour the mixture into a heart shaped or square cake tin lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake for about 40 min or until the cake is cooked when tested with a skewer. Leave the cake in the tin for 4 minutes before turning out. Place on a serving plate and pour rasberry purée over the cake ans then decorate with fresh rasberries( and unsalted pistachios if you wish). Serves 4-5.