Red palm oil is pressed from the fruit of the oil palm. In its raw or virgin state, palm oil is a deep, rich orange-red color due to its extremely high vitamin A content. Virgin palm oil is also rich in vitamin E.
While the red oil palm originated in tropical West Africa, it is now commonly grown in South America and Asia as well. Unfortunately much of the palm oil grown for today’s marketplace comes from commercial mono-culture plantations in Asia, which are extremely destructive to the environment and have severely impacted Orangutans and their habitat.