66 Pounds of Seeds for One Quart

Posted by Kate Fish on October 25, 2026
Dropper of Katari Barie prickly pear seed oil over a frosted hand-blown glass amphora

People sometimes ask me, politely, why a 1 oz bottle of Barie costs what it does. I love that question, because the answer is one of my favorite stories.

Go deeper. The chemistry, step-by-step rituals, storage and pro tips are in the Prickly Pear Seed Oil Deep Dive in our Ingredient Library. Ready to try it? Shop Barie.

It starts in a wild cactus forest

Barie comes from prickly pear cacti that grow wild in Tunisia. Nobody plants them, waters them or sprays them. They just grow, in dry, rocky land, the way they have for centuries. Our maker there, Tareq, works with the people who harvest them.

The fruit is picked by hand, carefully, around the thorns. If you have ever touched a prickly pear, you know those tiny spines are no joke.

Woman smoothing Katari Barie prickly pear seed oil onto her skin

The math that explains the price

Inside each fruit are a few hundred small, rock-hard seeds. Each seed is only about 5% oil. So:

  • About 250 prickly pears go into one 1 oz bottle.
  • It takes roughly 66 pounds of seeds to press a single quart.
  • Every seed is separated, cleaned and dried before it ever reaches the press.

The seeds and the cold-pressing process are EU organic-certified. And what comes out is light, golden, faintly nutty, and among the richest natural sources of vitamin E in any plant oil.

Nothing goes to waste

Here is the part I'm proudest of. Even after pressing, about half of the oil stays locked inside the seed cores. Instead of throwing them out, we mill them into a soft, flour-like powder: Poudre de Barie. Mixed with a few drops of oil, it becomes the gentlest polish I know. Mixed with Argil, it turns a clay masque into a treat.

Hands scooping Katari Poudre de Barie exfoliating powder from a hand-blown glass jar

How I use it

Two drops at night, pressed over Hoba or Rubi on damp skin, and one tiny drop patted under my eyes. That's it. Used that way, a bottle lasts me three months or more, which makes the price feel a lot less scary.

Go deeper. The chemistry, step-by-step rituals, storage and pro tips are in the Prickly Pear Seed Oil Deep Dive in our Ingredient Library. Ready to try it? Shop Barie.

~ Kate

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