The sal tree (Shorea robusta) is a dominant hardwood species in the forests of the Indian subcontinent, found across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh. While prized primarily for its timber, the tree also produces oily seeds that are a source of sal fat, sometimes called sal butter.
Sal fat is a hard, pale vegetable fat extracted from the dried seeds. Its fatty acid profile — high in stearic and oleic acids — makes it a useful substitute for cocoa butter in chocolate and confectionery manufacturing. It is classified as a cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) in many markets.
Outside industrial food use, sal seeds and their oil have a long history in traditional Indian cooking and household use. The collection of sal seeds also provides seasonal income for forest-dwelling communities in India.
How it's produced
Sal trees are not farmed in plantation settings — the seeds are wild-harvested from natural and managed forests across India. The trees fruit once a year, typically between June and July, and the fallen seeds are gathered by hand, predominantly by rural and tribal communities as a source of supplementary income.
The collected seeds are sun-dried and sold to processing facilities, where the fat is extracted using mechanical pressing or solvent extraction. The crude sal fat is then refined, bleached, and deodorised before use in food manufacturing. Because it relies entirely on wild collection, supply can vary significantly from year to year depending on monsoon conditions and fruiting cycles.
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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