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Local products are linked to specific places, resources and know-how. Local products evolve in a dynamic context; being at the same time locally embedded in a specific territory and having to fit global market expectations. In this article, we focus on the phenomenon of appropriation of the knowledge and know-how regarding a South African local product: the herbal tea rooibos (red tea). The rooibos production is linked to different kind of knowledge: it involves the engineering of the Afrikaner producers and the know-how of the Coloured workers, which contributes to make it a local and national cultural heritage. The resource and the associated knowledge have become, beyond the economical stakes, a political stake.