Cupuacu Butter

A natural history

Cupuacu is a fruit of the Amazon rainforest, beloved across northern Brazil, and it grows on a close cousin of the cacao tree. The two share the genus Theobroma, a name the botanist Linnaeus built from Greek words meaning food of the gods. The white pulp inside the heavy fruit tastes like a cross between chocolate and pineapple and flavors juices, ices, and sweets throughout the region.

The seeds hold the prize for skin. Pressed into a soft, ivory butter, they yield cupuacu butter, rich and slow to melt until it meets the warmth of skin. The same seeds can even be made into a chocolate like treat the Brazilians call cupulate. A true Amazonian superfruit, cupuacu has moved from rainforest markets to the world's moisturizers.

What it does for your skin

Cupuacu butter is a rich emollient whose fats melt close to skin temperature, giving it a cushioning, conditioning feel. Studies of the butter confirm a fat that softens and melts on contact with skin, the physical basis of a deeply emollient, protective finish.^[1] Further analysis details its balance of stearic and oleic fatty acids, the profile behind its buttery, barrier feel.^[2] In a formula it is a luxurious, softening butter that helps dry, thirsty looking skin feel cushioned and conditioned.

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