Amlou

Amlou is three ingredients: almonds roasted and ground to a paste, argan oil, and honey, worked together until thick and pourable - the comparison to a nut butter is fair and the taste is not, since argan oil has a strong roasted nuttiness of its own that carries the whole thing. It comes from the Souss, where the argan tree grows and nowhere else in the world does, and it is eaten at breakfast on bread or msemen. The argan for culinary oil is roasted before pressing, which is what gives it the flavour; cosmetic argan oil is pressed unroasted and is a different product. Traditionally the kernels were cracked by hand between stones, a labour-intensive job done by women, and cooperatives across the Souss now organise that work and sell oil and amlou directly, which is worth seeking out over the supermarket version - real amlou is expensive because argan oil is.

What you actually see

• Three ingredients - roasted almonds, argan oil and honey, and nothing else.
• Roasted argan - the culinary oil, distinct from the unroasted cosmetic one.
• Hand-cracked kernels - the labour behind it, now organised through cooperatives.
• A breakfast spread - eaten on bread or msemen in the Souss.

When to go

All year. An hour at a cooperative.

Honest expectations

Cheap amlou is bulked with peanut or sunflower oil and sugar - read the ingredients or buy from a cooperative. Real argan oil is expensive and a low price is a warning. It is very rich. Cosmetic and culinary argan are different products; do not confuse them.

Nearby

Argan cooperatives on the roads around Taroudant, Essaouira and Agadir.