Sacha inchi nut oil is extracted by pressing it from the seeds and flesh of the fruit from the ''
Plukenetia volubilis
''Plukenetia volubilis'', commonly known as sacha inchi, sacha peanut, mountain peanut, Inca nut or Inca-peanut, is a perennial plant in the family Euphorbiaceae, having small trichomes on its leaves. It is native to much of tropical South Amer ...
'', or pracaxi, a tree native to the area surrounding the
Amazon River
The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile.
The headwaters of t ...
.
Sacha Inchi oil has with approximately 50% a very high content of the omega-3 fatty acid
alpha-linolenic acid, which makes it comparable to
flaxseed oil
Linseed oil, also known as flaxseed oil or flax oil (in its edible form), is a colourless to yellowish oil obtained from the dried, ripened seeds of the flax plant (''Linum usitatissimum''). The oil is obtained by pressing, sometimes followed by ...
. Sacha Inchi oil has a very high content of
Tocopherols (176–226 mg/100 g) which consists predominantly of gamma-Tocopherol (50%) and delta-Tocopherol.
Pracaxi
While Sacha Inchi is called 'Pracaxi' there are other plants with very different properties by the same name. Not to be confused with Sacha Inchi is the oil of ''
Pentaclethara macroloba'' which is also called Pracaxi. This oil is distinguished by a particularly high amount of the fatty acid
behenic acid, a characteristic that it shares with
ben oil.
References
Vegetable oils
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