Acai Berry

The Acai Berry is actually found growing on Acai palm trees (Euterpe oleracea). The Latin name comes from the South American language Tupi, and means “fruit that cries or expels water”. The palms can grow to between fifteen and thirty metres in height and the frond like leaves can extend to three metres.

This Acai palm species are native to Central and South America and grows in moist environments such as swamps and floodplains along the Amazon River. Since global demand for the nutritious berries has increased, commercial growers have started to grow the palms as a food crop.

Acai Berry fruits are known as drupes. A drupe is what is often called a “stone fruit” and has a hard inner seed inside soft flesh and thin skin. The deep purple coloured Acai Berry drupes grow in huge bunches of between 500 and 900 fruits, each of around an inch in diameter. The Acai Palm produces only two crops of fruit each year.

The Acai Berry has been harvested by Brazilian Amazonian tribes for thousands of years, providing a major source of nutrition. To this day, the fruit is a common additive to foodstuff in South America with the pulp being added to tapioca and seasoned sweet or salted as desired. It is also a highly popular additive in drinks, smoothies and juices.

The Acai Palm does not only provide the world with the nutrient packed Acai Berry. The palm heart is a gourmet delicacy served in salads, the trunks can be processed to have minerals extracted from them and the leaves can be woven to make hats, baskets and roofing material. The seed from within the Acai fruit can be used as livestock feed or can be added to compost to bring nutrients to soil. The seeds are also a source of polyunsaturated oils.

The Acai Berry is valued for its antioxidant components. Antioxidants are used to protect the body from free radicals which play a part in the ageing process and cancers. The berries also contain vitamin E, vitamin A, iron and polyphenols which assist the bodies absorption of Omega 3 Fatty Acids.