SMIMOU, Morocco (AP) — Argan oil runs through your fingers like liquid gold — hydrating, luscious, and restorative. Prized ...

SMIMOU, Morocco (AP) — Argan oil runs through your fingers like liquid gold — hydrating, luscious, and restorative. Prized worldwide as a miracle cosmetic, it’s more than that in Morocco.

Medically reviewed by William Truswell, MD Argan oil comes from the fruit kernels, or seeds, of the argan tree (Argania spinosa). There are two main types of argan oil: food-grade and cosmetic-grade.

The beauty industry loves argan oil, but the women who harvest the nourishing ingredient earn little, while the forests thin.

Morocco’s growing argan oil industry, often referred to as producing "liquid gold," is placing increasing pressure on the ...

The argan tree is really the last green curtain on the desert. Narrator: In just one generation, the international market for argan oil has risen from just 200 liters to 4,000 metric tons in 2019.

Argan seeds are placed in a basket after getting cracked at a cooperative that extracts and produces argan oil and products, Essaouira, Morocco, Thursday, May 22, 2025. Credit: AP/Mosa'ab Elshamy ...