Illipe refers to several species of tropical trees in the genus Shorea (particularly Shorea stenoptera), native to the rainforests of Borneo and Southeast Asia. The trees produce large, oily seeds — sometimes called illipe nuts or tengkawang — from which a pale, solid fat is extracted. This fat has a melting profile and composition remarkably similar to cocoa butter, making it one of the approved cocoa butter equivalents (CBEs) used in chocolate manufacturing.
Illipe butter has been used for centuries by Indigenous communities in Borneo for cooking, lighting, and skin care. In the global food industry, it is primarily valued as a specialty fat for confectionery applications, where it can partially replace cocoa butter without significantly altering the texture or melting behaviour of chocolate.
The trees are large rainforest emergents that flower and fruit irregularly, often in mass fruiting events linked to El Niño cycles. This unpredictable supply makes illipe butter a relatively expensive and inconsistently available commodity.
How it's produced
Illipe nuts are almost entirely wild-harvested from native rainforest trees in Borneo (Indonesian Kalimantan and Malaysian Sarawak and Sabah). The trees are not widely cultivated due to their slow growth — they can take decades to reach productive maturity — and their dependence on specific rainforest conditions. Harvesting occurs during fruiting events, when communities collect the fallen seeds from the forest floor.
The seeds are dried, often sun-dried, and then mechanically pressed or solvent-extracted to produce illipe butter. The fat is refined for food-grade use, primarily for export to European and Asian confectionery manufacturers. Sustainable harvesting of illipe is considered an important economic incentive for rainforest conservation in Borneo, as it provides income to local communities without requiring forest clearance.
What it costs the planet (per kilo)
≈ Estimated from its category — typical for vegetable oils, not measured for this item yet. Sources & methods →
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