Amazon Acai Berry
What a fantastic growing environment the Amazon basin is! Rich aluvial soil teeming with life. Tropical sunlight and drenching rains make it the most fertile place on the planet. No wonder some of the most amazing foodstuff are found in this region. None more amazing than the unassuming acai (pronouced ah-sigh-ee) berry which gives a very healthy juice and pulp for food flavoring. The Amazon basin dwellers have long known about the life-enhancing properties of this fruit from the “tree of life” as they call this species of palm.
The actual berries hang in bunches, not unlike grapes on the vine, but they sprout from the top of the palm trees. In order to gather in the ripe fruit, someone must climb to the top of the tree, twice a year and cut the clusters of berries from it. The Acai berries’ goodness will only stay active and fresh for 1 day after the berries have been picked. Because of this, most of the new fruit is stored in industrial freezers, or freeze-dried, in order to keep the active ingredients from deteriorating, and to allow them to be exported.
It is an urban myth that Brazilian surfers are said to have introduced the outside world to the Acai berry. The surfers would drink the juice from the Acai berry as an energizer to give them more time on the waves. Two American surfers picked up on the amazing properties of the Acai juice first-hand while doing their stuff in Brazil. Impressed by the effects and powerful benefits to be had from regular consumption of the fresh acai juice, these two guys founded a company to harvest and distribute the acai. Sambazon, is still the number 1 company in the acai market to this day.
Our modern wealthy health conscious world quickly picked up on the advantages of this exceptional fruit. Nutritionists and researchers across the first World analyzed and listed the qualities of the acai fruit. This has led to the acai reputation as the single healthiest fruit on Earth. It claims thirty times the amount of antioxidants as red wine. This little known berry has taken the health industry by storm. Everyone from celebrity Olympic athletes, to cancer patients in search of miracles, are taking serious advantage of the reported benefits of the acai. There are certainly no richer sources of antioxidants, amino acids, and essential fatty acids.