Jojoba - Family Style



In  all my years of working with jojoba, I have never known it to have the rich, golden color you see in the bottle above. Neither have I known jojoba to have any scent.

That changed when tried this smoky-warm scented liquid, organically grown and processed by a family in Arizona who have been doing nothing but making jojoba for the past 35 years.

I asked Allison Aronstam to share a bit about how her family at Oro de Sonora makes their jojoba. She not only accepted, but she rushed out and took these exclusive photos of their facilities.


35 Years and Counting

“Over the past 35 years, we have planted over 300 acres of trees, and continue to plant more each year. It takes about 7 years before the seeds can be harvested and pressed.
We harvest in August/September – when the seeds are just about ready to fall."



"We shake the trees to let any ready seeds fall, rake them out into the middle of the row, and then vacuum them up with our harvester. This process is repeated 2-3 times in each field as not all the seeds are ready at the same time.”




"After harvesting, the seeds go through two sorting steps: one to remove any rocks and leaves, and the other to pick the best seeds for pressing. The seeds are then hand-washed and air dried at the family's pressing facility in Southern California.

"We send our seeds through an expeller press where we get half jojoba oil and half jojoba meal. Part of our CCOF organic certification is that we till back into the ground where our plants are growing, as an organic fertilizer" explains Allison.

The pressed oil then sits for about 3 weeks in order to let any sediment settle at the bottom. Finally, the jojoba is sent through two centrifugal filters. The resulting golden jojoba is hand poured and packed into bottles to share with our customers!"


It is clear that the family is proud of their product.

That Rich Scent

When asked about the scent of the jojoba, Allison explains

"Our jojoba has a smoky nutty scent for a couple reasons:

  1. Jojoba is a very hard nut and there is some friction involved while pressing. This leads to a rise in temperature and that smoky scent.
  2. Some companies like to use natural deodorizers, however we like the way our jojoba smells like jojoba and choose to keep it the way it is!

It is a unique oil, and we believe it is important to celebrate that. I was so amazed when one day after smelling our freshly pressed jojoba, I went over to our seed bins and grabbed a big handful of seeds and took a big whiff and they smelled just like our jojoba oil! We pride ourselves on providing a jojoba that is as close to its natural state as possible and are having a great time doing it."


LisaLise Tries Oro de Sonora

My initial skin test was an application on my hands. The jojoba melted in super fast without a trace of greasiness. I continued to see how many applications it took before the jojoba didn't just disappear into my skin and leave it feeling velvety smooth. It wasn't until the fourth that there was a bit of residue on my hands. Next up trying this in a formula to see if the scent is a factor that needs to be considered.


More About Jojoba

Visit Allisons Family's website right here
Jojoba  - the oil that isn't (on this blog)
Jojoba (wikipedia)

Comments

Tina Rasmussen said…
Lise, you know I need to try this now!
:-o Tina