The Holistic Oil Revolution: 5 Rare Seeds Amanda’s Natural Products Is Pressing Right Here in Guyana

There is an unmistakable shift happening across Guyana. While our changing skylines dominate the news, a quieter, deeper movement is taking root on the ground. Guyana is transitioning toward greater interest in holistic living, natural products, traditional knowledge, and locally produced wellness products.

Today, more Guyanese are asking tougher questions about what we put on our skin and hair. There is growing interest in raw wellness, natural care, traditional remedies, locally sourced ingredients, and products made closer to home.

The heart of holistic wellness is trusting our own soil to provide. Right at the intersection of this green transition stands Amanda’s Natural Product and Services.

We are not simply buying finished oils from overseas and rebottling them. We source seeds, press the oils, and bottle them right here in Guyana.

Every single one of these oils is 100% produced by Amanda’s Natural Products in Guyana.

Let us dig into five remarkable seed oils we are producing and the traditional knowledge, historical research, and scientific evidence surrounding them.

1. Soursop Seed Oil — Annona muricata

Soursop is deeply familiar across Guyana and the wider Caribbean, but the seed itself has also been used historically.

The Traditional and Historical Practice

Soursop has a long history of ethnomedicinal use. Published reviews document traditional uses of different parts of the plant, including the seeds, across tropical regions. Historical use of crushed seeds and seed preparations against external parasites is part of that record. (PubMed Central (PMC))

This is important because the use of soursop seed did not begin when a modern laboratory decided to study it. Traditional communities had already identified practical uses for the seed long before modern chemical analysis.

The Scientific Findings

Modern research confirms that soursop seed is a genuine oil-bearing seed.

One laboratory study found that dried soursop seeds contained about 21.5% fixed oil. The oil contained approximately 39% oleic acid, 35% linoleic acid, and 19% palmitic acid. (Wiley Online Library)

Other research has found a similar pattern, with soursop seed oil containing around 42% oleic acid and 30% linoleic acid and roughly three-quarters of the fatty acids being unsaturated. (PubMed Central (PMC))

That fatty-acid profile makes soursop seed oil an interesting natural oil for further exploration in cosmetic and personal-care formulations.

At Amanda’s Natural Products, we are taking a seed that many people throw away and pressing it into a locally produced Guyanese oil.

2. Passion Fruit Seed Oil — Passiflora edulis

Passion fruit seed oil is internationally known as maracuja oil, but here in Guyana we know the fruit first.

The Traditional Practice

Across tropical regions, passion fruit has long been valued as a food and wellness plant. The seed is often discarded after the pulp is removed, yet it contains a valuable natural oil.

That is where local production becomes important.

Instead of treating the seed as waste, Amanda’s Natural Products presses it and turns it into a usable natural oil.

The Scientific Findings

Passion fruit seed oil has been well characterized in scientific research.

A 2026 study of cold-pressed Passiflora edulis seed oil found that the oil contained approximately 56.5% linoleic acid and 19.8% oleic acid, with almost 78% unsaturated fatty acids overall. (ScienceDirect)

Other studies have reported linoleic acid levels above 68%, showing that the exact fatty-acid profile can vary depending on variety, growing conditions, and extraction method. (PubMed Central (PMC))

Researchers have also specifically investigated passion fruit seed oil for cosmetic and emollient formulations. (MDPI)

This gives passion fruit seed oil strong potential as a lightweight natural oil for hair and skin formulations.

One important practical point is that highly unsaturated oils are sensitive to heat and oxidation. The recent cold-pressed oil study found that higher storage temperatures shortened the estimated shelf life considerably. (ScienceDirect)

For a tropical country like Guyana, that matters.

Knowing how an oil behaves in heat is just as important as knowing what nutrients it contains.

3. Monkey Apple Seed Oil — Annona glabra

Monkey apple, also known internationally as pond apple, is one of the most interesting oils in this group because the plant has a history of traditional use that is easily overlooked.

The Traditional and Historical Practice

Historical and ethnobotanical records document the use of monkey apple seeds in traditional preparations, including crushing the seeds and preparing them in oil for external use.

In the Caribbean and other tropical communities, preparations involving the seed were used for controlling external parasites such as lice.

That history matters.

It means monkey apple seed was already being used practically before modern cosmetic science began looking at tropical seed oils.

Amanda’s Natural Products is now taking that old knowledge into a new stage by pressing the seed itself and producing monkey apple seed oil locally in Guyana.

This is not about pretending the plant has just been discovered.

It is about bringing renewed attention to a plant that people were already using.

The Scientific Research

Compared with passion fruit, hemp, and soursop, modern laboratory research specifically on the fixed oil of Annona glabra is still relatively limited.

That does not erase the historical record.

It simply means modern chemical research has not yet investigated this seed oil as extensively as some better-known oils.

That distinction is important.

Historical research documents the traditional use.

Modern scientific research can later help us understand fatty-acid composition, stability, phytochemicals, and formulation behaviour in greater detail.

Amanda’s Natural Products is already working practically with the seed by pressing and observing the oil here in Guyana.

4. Okra Seed Oil — Abelmoschus esculentus

Almost every Guyanese knows okra.

But very few people think of okra as an oil-producing seed crop.

The Traditional Practice

Okra has long been valued throughout the Caribbean for its distinctive slippery texture and its usefulness in food and hair care.

The mucilage from the pod has traditionally been valued for softness and slip, particularly in hair preparations.

The seed, however, contains something different: oil.

The Scientific Findings

Scientific research confirms that okra seeds contain a meaningful amount of oil.

A large study of Abelmoschus esculentus varieties found seed-oil levels around 17% in some materials, with linoleic acid ranging from roughly 24% to 51%, depending on the variety. (American Chemical Society Publications)

This tells us something important about natural oils: the same plant species can produce oils with different fatty-acid profiles depending on genetics, climate, and growing conditions.

Okra seed oil is therefore much more than an unusual curiosity.

It represents another example of a familiar Guyanese food crop having value beyond the kitchen.

At Amanda’s Natural Products, pressing okra seed oil allows us to explore another locally available plant resource for natural-product development.

5. Hemp Seed Oil — Cannabis sativa

Hemp seed oil has a very long history of human use and is one of the most studied oils in this group.

The Traditional Practice

Hemp has been cultivated for thousands of years for fibre, food, seed, and oil.

The oil discussed here comes from the seed.

It should not be confused with concentrated cannabinoid preparations made from the flowers or resin of the plant.

The Scientific Findings

Scientific research consistently shows that hemp seed oil is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

One analysis found approximately 55% linoleic acid, 16% alpha-linolenic acid, and 11% oleic acid. (PubMed)

A broader review found hemp seed oil commonly contains around 52–59% linoleic acid and 10–20% alpha-linolenic acid, although exact values vary by cultivar and growing conditions. (PubMed Central (PMC))

That is where the well-known omega-6 to omega-3 balance comes from.

Hemp seed oil is also known to contain naturally occurring compounds such as tocopherols and plant sterols. (PubMed)

For natural hair and skin formulation, that composition makes hemp seed oil especially interesting as a plant-derived oil.

Why 100% Produced by Amanda’s Matters

A truly holistic approach requires knowing where your ingredients come from.

Mass-produced cosmetics can pass through long supply chains before reaching the consumer.

Amanda’s Natural Products is doing something different.

We are producing these oils ourselves in Guyana.

We source the seeds.

We prepare them.

We press the oil.

We observe how the oil behaves.

We bottle it.

And we use what we learn in our own natural-product development.

That gives us direct experience with the oil from seed to bottle.

It also allows us to look again at materials that Guyanese people may normally throw away.

Passion fruit seeds.

Soursop seeds.

Okra seeds.

Monkey apple seeds.

These are not automatically waste.

They can be valuable raw materials.

Traditional Knowledge Did Not Begin in a Laboratory

One of the most important things Amanda’s Natural Products wants to preserve is the truth about where natural knowledge comes from.

People were using plants long before modern laboratories existed.

Historical researchers and ethnobotanists have documented traditional uses of plants across Guyana, the Caribbean, South America, Africa, Asia, and other regions.

That research matters.

It does not become less valid simply because it was not produced in the United States or Europe.

Modern science can analyse fatty acids, identify phytochemicals, measure oxidation, and study biological activity.

Traditional knowledge tells us how people actually used plants over generations.

Both records are important.

And when modern research investigates something traditional communities were already doing, we should not pretend the knowledge began with the modern study.

The scientific study may help explain it.

It did not necessarily discover it.

Guyana Has More Natural Resources Than We Realise

Guyana is rich in fruits, seeds, plants, herbs, forests, wetlands, and traditional knowledge.

As the country develops, we should not lose sight of that wealth.

Natural-product manufacturing gives us an opportunity to turn more of our own raw materials into finished Guyanese products.

Instead of importing every oil we use, we can also ask:

What can we produce right here?

That is the direction Amanda’s Natural Products is exploring.

From soursop seed to passion fruit seed.

From monkey apple to okra.

From hemp seed to other seeds still waiting to be explored.

This is not just about selling oil.

It is about researching, preserving, producing, and adding value to natural resources.

Join Amanda’s Natural Product and Services Blog

As Guyana moves toward greater recognition of holistic living, traditional knowledge, and natural-product development, join Amanda’s Natural Product and Services Blog as we dig deeper into natural remedies, seed oils, herbs, plants, and traditional practices found right here in Guyana and across the Caribbean.

We will look at what history records.

We will look at what traditional communities already knew.

We will look at what modern research has discovered.

And we will share what Amanda’s Natural Products is learning through our own practical experience producing natural oils in Guyana.

Because sometimes the next valuable natural product is not sitting on a foreign shelf.

It is already growing right here at home.