MonaVie

Found in the Amazon jungles, the açai (a-sigh-ee) berry is loaded with antioxidants and other health improving vitamins and minerals. Never heard of it before? It is also called the Assai palm in English. The açai berry is small, round, and dark blue to purple or black in color and is found on trees that grow close to rivers and swamps. The whole entire plant has uses, but only the berry and its stem are consumable by humans. The stem, heart of palms, is normally found in salads. However, to extract the stem means certain death for the tree itself because no new branches will grow. This, and the fact that it is very expensive to pay for the labor of cutting the trees down, heart of palm is considered a delicacy often called “Millionaire’s Salad”. Unfortunately, this has led to illegal harvesting of the stems. The berries themselves aren’t all that inexpensive, either; a tree produces a harvest once every two years. The berry is mostly comprised of the seed (it takes up eight percent of the fruit), the pulp and the skin. Recent studies have found that the fruit, when freeze dried, is high in calories, fat, dietary fiber and antioxidants. Some researchers are calling this the new super fruit. Since the açai berry begins to decay soon after harvesting, it is made into juices, powders or freeze dried outside of its growing area. Açai berries are eaten cold in southern Brazil, and in the northern regions of the country, it is popular to serve them in a pudding type dish with tapioca and occasionally sugar. The most popular way to consume the açai berry is to use the juice and fruit pulp in juices, smoothies and even sodas. This makes it easy to market world wide, as there’s a longer expiration time table on the powders and juices of the açai berry in these forms. This has helped the economy in many ways. The rest of the açai tree is very resourceful as well. The seeds of the berry is used to feed farm animals or as an organic compound in soil for planting, and has been found to be used in making jewelry and keepsakes. Leaves can be stripped down and used for making things such as hats, mats, and can even be weaved into baskets. The açai leaves are often used for brooms and thatch roofs for homes. The trunk bears a wonderful wood that is a repellant to pests so it can be used for construction. It is yet unknown how long the açai berry has been consumed, but researchers have conducted studies and found that there are no long term side effects to the consumption of this fruit.