The rainforest’s answer to dry skin
📍 Home: the Amazon rainforest, Brazil
Cupuaçu (Theobroma grandiflorum) is a cousin of cacao, and Amazonians have loved its fruit for generations. It tastes like chocolate, banana and pineapple all at once. Inside each big brown fruit are seeds, which are cold-pressed into a soft, creamy butter with a delicious fruity-chocolate scent.
Where ours comes from: I met the founder of a small Brazilian company at an exhibition. They work directly with the local people who wild-harvest the fruit in the rainforest, and they support them fairly, using very sustainable methods. When I studied what these Amazon butters can do for the skin, I knew I’d found something special. We buy directly from them, with no middlemen, so we know exactly where every block of butter comes from. It’s unrefined, just as nature made it.
What’s in it: omega-9 and omega-3 fatty acids, plant sterols and natural antioxidants.
Why we chose it: cupuaçu butter is famous for its remarkable ability to hold water. It can absorb several times its own weight, which is why formulators call it nature’s plant alternative to lanolin. We use it to help dry, mature skin feel soft, supple and deeply moisturised all day.
Find it in:
- Glowing Skin Day Cream: rich moisture that lasts until evening
- Velvet Skin Night Elixir: together with tucuma, red ucuuba and murumuru, for skin that wakes up feeling nourished
Feed it from within 🍹
In Brazil, cupuaçu pulp is blended into juices, smoothies and ice cream. If you ever find frozen cupuaçu pulp, try it in a smoothie with banana. It tastes like a tropical chocolate dessert.
