How is Bio Régène prickly pear seed oil produced?

You probably know the prickly pear, this fruit that we find on the stalls of our merchants from the month of August? Its seeds contain the precious elixir with multiple benefits.

Discover in this article all the necessary know-how that leads from fig to oil.

The seasonal harvest of prickly pears

Harvesting prickly pears by women in our producer's fields

In Tunisia, the harvest of prickly pears is seasonal from August to December. It is done by hand by Tunisian rural women. Prickly pear trees grow densely and the many thorns make the fruits difficult to access for pickers, who carefully select the ripe fruits. The work is intense during this period because the production of oil requires a very large quantity of figs: it takes 1 ton of fruit to harvest 1 liter of oil!

After harvesting, the fruits are peeled by hand. The seeds are separated from the fruits and dried for several weeks. This allows them to be stored for several months and oil to be pressed on demand throughout the year. Drying is a crucial step: the seed must remain supple while being freed from its moisture, in order to obtain the best possible quality oil.

An artisanal process

Prickly pear seeds

Organic Régène prickly pear seed oil is extracted by the cold pressing method; a traditional mechanical method of extracting vegetable oils.

For the first step, the seeds of the prickly pears are first separated from the fruit, sorted and dried. The seeds are large, beige and flattened.

The seeds are then passed through a screw press which, thanks to the pressure exerted on the seeds, allows the oil to be extracted. Extraction is a long step which requires several hours of work.

Finally, the oil is filtered to remove all seed residue and preserve all its therapeutic properties.

Unlike other more industrial extraction methods, the seeds do not undergo any prior heating or addition of solvents that could alter the properties of the oil. The cold pressing method guarantees a vegetable oil of excellent quality.
Bottling is done as soon as the oil is pressed so that it does not lose its properties.

Zero waste production

Although only the seeds are used for the production of oil, the other parts of the fruit are recycled for the production of other products: the vegetable husks are transformed into fertilizer, the juice into vinegar. The pressed seeds are transformed into exfoliating powder for the face and body.

The production of prickly pear seed oil is made possible by a collaboration of several know-how and techniques. Each manufacturing stage is controlled in order to guarantee the respect of the properties of the oil and the safety of each actor.


Discover our pure and certified organic prickly pear seed oil