Author: Natalie, Natural DIY Enthusiast
Cupuacu Butter is an exotic, firm and fast-absorbing butter native to Brazil. It is used as a tonic and firming body butter, or as an ingredient for DIY creations. This exotic butter is pronounced “koo-poo-ah-SU”
What is Cupuacu Butter
Cupuacu Butter is made from a fruit that comes from the cupuacu tree. This tree is widely grown throughout the northern Amazon rainforest. The fruit itself is about the size of an oblong football with a rough, brown exterior. When opened, it reveals a creamy white pulp surrounding the seeds of the cupuacu fruit. These seeds are mechanically pressed to extract the fat, which solidifies into light beige cupuacu (theobroma grandiflorum seed butter). It is fast becoming a star in the cosmetics world due to its array of benefits and skin rejuvenating nutrients.
Cupuacu belongs to the theobroma fruit family and is related to cacao, which is beloved for the production of chocolate, cocoa products and raw cocoa butter. What does it mean to be in the same fruit family? It’s similar to the citrus family – think how an orange and a lemon are related. It has a natural aroma that is somewhat chocolatey, similar to cocoa butter, but with a distinct creamy and fruity note similar to pineapple.
Benefits of Cupuacu Butter
Cupuacu is a deeply moisturizing butter for skin and hair as it is both highly moisturizing and highly emollient.
Humectants attract and bind water to the skin, and emollients deliver lipids and nutrients to the layers of the skin to help repair and soothe it. What makes raw cupuacu butter a true superstar in the beauty world is that it can hold between 200-450% of its weight in water when applied and absorbed into the skin, and its vegetable fats are second to none for their rejuvenating properties.
That’s why it’s the cream of cosmetic ingredient in many of your favorite name-brand products, like Sol de Janeiro’s Brazilian Bum Bum Cream and Burt’s Bees products.
It also helps tighten and repair the skin from the inside out, delivering nutrients to the deeper layers of the skin, such as phytosterols and fatty acids (the main components of plant lipids) and antioxidants that fight daily wear and/or environmental damage. This allows the skin to rebuild and repair itself over time with continued use.
In addition to these properties, other benefits of cupuacu butter include its ability to sink into the skin quickly without leaving an oily residue. It only takes a little of a raw, raw product for full hydration, usually a pea-sized amount of butter.
Are you familiar with the concept of an “active” ingredient in skin care? It means the isolated ingredient that performs a cosmetic function, such as salicylic acid for acne and clogged pores. With raw cosmetic butters, you get double action: the active moisturizer itself that isn’t drenched in fillers, and the antioxidants and nutrients found in plants, which help protect and rebuild skin over time. This is very different from the typical tiny amount of moisturizer or a sprinkling of a natural plant ingredient at the end of a long ingredient list.
If you’re familiar with the most popular cosmetic butters for skin and hair like shea, mango, and cocoa, you might be curious to buy cupuacu butter to try in your beauty routine. It performs similarly to cocoa and shea butter. It has the deep moisturizing action of cocoa and the smoothing and moisturizing properties of shea. Both butters are also very rich in antioxidants, and cupuacu is no different.
These powerful properties are why we made it the key ingredient in our natural version of Bum Bum Cream, available here. As a side note, “Bum Bum” (pronounced “boom boom”) is a cute way to refer to the rear in Brazil, and a “Bum Bum cream” is not unique to this region. It is great for full body toning, firming and firming over time, providing the skin with natural plant nutrients. With beach life being a way of life in Brazil, it’s no wonder that Bum Bum creams and cupuacu butter are some of the most popular body care products.
Finally, a 1 pound block of cupuacu goes a long, long way. Stored properly (away from heat or moisture) this butter will usually last more than a year or two from production. This makes it super affordable, especially since it’s such a concentrated moisturizer.
Other facts about Cupuacu fruit and butter
The pulp surrounding the seeds is edible and a popular addition to desserts and smoothies. Cupuacu butter itself is also edible and can be used for cooking, and being related to cacao means it has many of the same nutrients and antioxidants you’ll find in the cacao plant, such as vitamins A, C and E, plant that is healthy for the heart. fats and epicatechin, a particularly beneficial antioxidant also found in wine, black berries and chocolate. (Side note: I’m particularly fond of acai, another antioxidant-rich Amazonian fruit commonly paired with cupuacu).
Cupuacu and cacao are also crops that support the Amazon rainforest and the farmers who live and work in the area. Last year, the Amazon showed high levels of recovery and reforestation due to the planting of more restorative crops. With the growing demand for plant-based, whole and healthy foods, cupuacu is becoming more widely known and loved.
How to use Cupuacu butter
Cupuacu butter is on the firm side, but not as hard or brittle as cocoa or kokum butters. It is quite similar to mango butter and while it is firm at first it will soften quickly if you rub it into your skin. It leaves behind a particularly sleek semi-matte feel after use, which is very popular with beauty consumers.
It is loved as a hair and scalp tonic in Brazil and can be used on its own as a deep moisturizing hair pack or mask or as a styling butter.
Its high stearic acid content makes it a butter that combines well with many other butters and oils and produces an almost emulsifying effect on its own without water or a separate emulsifying wax. It is easily whipped and lends itself well to making balms, whipped butters and soaps.
There are many other great uses for cupuacu butter. Try a cupuacu scrub made with sugar or salt to tighten and exfoliate your skin for the summer months, or incorporate an emulsifier and preservative to make your own cupuacu cream!
Recipes with Cupuacu butter
If you’re wondering how to use cupuacu butter in your DIY skin and hair care creations, you can substitute it for any recipe that calls for cocoa butter! Here are two recipes we’ve created to make easy, super-moisturizing whipped butters that will leave your skin looking plump, toned, and glowing:
Tropical Cupuacu Body Butter Recipe
- 4 oz Cupuacu Butter
- 4 oz coconut oil
- 4 oz Jojoba Oil
- Optional: 1 tablespoon of your favorite gold glitter
- Optional: 20 drops orange EO
- Melt cupuacu butter and coconut oil in a double boiler over low heat until melted
- Remove from heat and wait a minute
- Add the jojoba oil and mix
- Refrigerate until 50% solid.
- Fold with mica and essential oil
- Whip to perfection
This body butter will give you all the benefits of cupuacu butter in one simple formula and has the natural fruity/chocolate scent of cupuacu butter combined with the tropical scent of coconut oil and orange.
Skin tightening butter recipe
- Melt the cupuacu butter and raw shea butter over low heat in a double boiler.
- Wait a minute
- Add carrier oil, rosehip oil and optional essential oil and mix
- Refrigerate until 50% solid.
- Whip to perfection
I hope this blog post has helped you learn more about this beauty favorite butter and the hair and skin benefits it has. Please comment below with any questions or comments you may have.
