The acai berry borne by acai palm native to South and Central America, is a reddish-purple colored fruit with a strong similarity to cranberries and blueberries. Every year, two crops of acai berry are produced and the ripe ones are harvested. In the local Brazilian language the fruit is known as "içá-çai" or “Tupi,” which mean a “fruit that cries.” The only usable part of the fruit is its skin which is used for making acai berry juice or acai pulp. The acai fruit with a round shape and small size is a purple-black drupe and is an inch in circumference, which makes it smaller and less pulpy than a grape, although it occurs in branched panicles of 500 to 900 berries. The exocarp of a ripened acai berry is deep green or purple in color, depending on the species of the fruit and its maturity. The mesocarp remains thin and pulpy with a 1mm or less thickness enclosing the hard and voluminous endocarp comprising a large seed with a diameter of 0.25–0.40 inches, which makes 80% of the acai fruit. Acai berry has a rich flavor similar to chocolate and has a rich nutritional quotient, which makes the acai berry juice, pulp, powder and supplements a strong influence in the health world. Some very popular recipes made from acai berry are acai martini, acai coconut shake, acai smoothie and Brazilian acai breakfast bowl.
History of Acai
The history of acai berry takes shape from the Amazon River basin in Brazil, where the acai palm tree growing in the northern part of the country bears these fruits in bunches. The acai berry juice, also known as “acai roots,” has been a popular drink of the Native Amazonians since the historical times, which is prepared by extracting the juice from the pulp of the fruit. Acai berry also has a legendary significance amongst the Amazonians, which says that due to the scarcity of food in the region the tribal chief had ordered all the newborns to be killed and so when his daughter Iaca’s child was also killed, she mourned his death and then heard a new palm tree shooting up from the ground and crying. She felt her dead son had come alive in the form of the plant and she died under it, which was named after her as “acai,” the reverse of “Iaca,” whose fruits wiped out hunger in the region. The health benefits of acai berry began to be realized in the 1950s and in the 1960s, the famous Gracie jiu-jitsu family made the concept of “acai and workouts” popular. Acai was brought to Rio de Janeiro by northern Brazilians in the ‘70s – ‘80s and soon the dish - Acai Bowls Rio Style or "acai na tigela" became popular. In the early ‘80s, the concept of acai berry juice and smoothie grew popular, especially in Rio.
Culinary Uses of Acai
Acai berry is mainly used as a health food and drink in the form of acai berry juice, acai breakfast bowl and in the form of powder, capsules and different kinds of hard and soft beverages.
Popular Acai Recipes
The pulp of acai berry is collected and pureed to make popular preparations like acai berry juice, acai frozen pulp smoothie and acai ice cream. From the root extract, Açai Roots Brazilian Style Sorbet is made. Often the fruit is dried to make a specialty called Freeze Dried Açaí Powder. The fresh acai berry fruits are often used in making Rio-Style açaí bowls mixed with banana slices and granola.
Cuisines Using Acai
Acai berry is the traditional food of the indigenous Caboclo tribe living in the Amazon region of Brazil. Almost half of their total food consumption is made up by acai preparations as it is the most abundant fruit there and also very delicious and healthy. In Brazilian cuisine, the fruit pulp is used in making acai berry juice, smoothies and soda. A special acai-tapioca dessert and acai-seed tea is also very popular in Brazil. Acai berry is also popularly used in making liqueur and ice cream. In Native Brazilian cuisine, boiled acai root or acai berry juice has been traditionally consumed for medicinal purposes. In Southern Brazilian cuisine, acai berry is eaten as a cold bowl breakfast recipe mixed with granola called açaí na tigela. Globally, and more specifically in America, acai berry juice and extracts is being massively used for making blends, soda, smoothies and other beverages.
Preferable Cooking Methods for Acai
Mostly the acai berry is dried and powdered, pureed fresh or used whole and fresh for various recipes.
Nutritive Value of Acai
Acai berry is the new found superfood of America and one of most antioxidant fruits of the world. The fruit contains double times and 10 times more antioxidants than blueberries and grapes respectively with 10 to 30 times more anthocyanin than red wine. Acai berry juice or acai root is a favorite traditional health drink in Brazil that packs in healthy omega fatty acids like Omega 3, Omega 6 and Omega 9, 19 different amino acids, plant sterols and loads of vitamins and minerals. The plant sterols or photosterols like sigmasterol, B-sitosterol and Photosterols affect the heart and the digestive system in the healthy way. The acai berry also packs in vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and E and minerals like calcium, zinc, potassium, magnesium and copper. Acai is also rich in dietary fiber and is highly recommended for weight loss and colon cleanse.
Acai Storing Tips
Acai berry is often dried and mostly frozen to be preserved for a long time. Frozen acai powders are a good example.
Non- Food Uses of Acai
Apart from use as food and flavoring in tequila, acai berry has several commercial uses too. The seeds of acai are often grounded to make livestock food. Sometimes, this powdered seed is used as an organic component in gardening.
Acai Trivia
The ORAC score for a 100 gram of powdered acai berry is more than 70,000, while the population consumes far less than a thousand ORAC units per day.