Having personally tasted fresh Acai in the jungle along the banks of an Amazon tributary, I can confirm that the Acai fruit is real and is here to stay. The versatility of this fruit as it transforms from a savory dish to a sweet dessert and an incredible drink speaks to the uniqueness of this properly considered “superfood.” The acai palm and its fruit have been around for an indeterminate time. However, the fruit and its discovery have been documented.
Acai (Euterpr Oleracea) is “indehiscent”, which means that the fruit does not open on its own to release seeds. It is a fleshy or pulpy fruit, indehiscent, superficially similar to a berry in which a seed is wrapped in a stone like in cherries. It was first described as a “berry” in late 1769 by Joseph Banks, one of the world’s greatest botanists. He recorded in his journal and described Acai as “palm berries (which) look a lot like black grapes but have hardly any pulp to eat to cover a very large pit.”
Acai is known to have been used as a staple food since pre-colonial times in the Amazon rainforest. The indigenous people of the area tell the legend of Iaca or Acai that originated during pre-colonial times in northern Brazil. They claim that it was a fruit discovered by fate in very desperate times in the jungle. Legend states that the discovery of Acai literally saved the Indian tribes from death. Acai has been documented in the writings of British, Portuguese and American explorers of the Amazon during the 18th and 19th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment. “In each respective account of the discovery of acai by these intrepid expeditionary naturalists, the fruit is described as harvested and consumed in the same way as it is today in that area. Acai was only recently introduced to the rest of Brazil in the 1980s. Until then it was consumed raw in its most earthy form as a savory local dish – nothing you fancy a bit of raw acai and cooked fish.
During the 1980s, Acai was transformed into “Acai Da Tigela” or acai bowl. This form of Acai was not the raw earthy staple of the Amazon, but a more commercially accepted fruit form. To make it more commercially acceptable, sugar and guarana, a natural form of caffeine and a popular ingredient in guarana soft drinks, were added to the Acai and then frozen in a sherbet-like serving. The exotic sweet and energizing purple liquor grew in popularity throughout the beachside resorts in Rio de Janeiro. This popularity spread both southward into the more business-oriented area of Sao Paulo and northward to its source, the Amazon. This spread of Acai as sorbets, jams and ice creams occurred mainly along the coastal areas of Brazil.
It was in the 1990s that a pair of siblings from Southern California on a surf vacation in Brazil first tried acai in this form. They fell in love with the taste. This love for acai fueled his budding entrepreneurial skills and acai was soon commercially introduced to the United States. Since then, acai has been adopted and promoted by many different companies. It has become widely available in powder, pill, and juice form. Fresh acai fruit is impossible to sell in the United States due to its tendency to spoil quickly after harvest. Many of these companies that sell acai in North America are simply marketing companies profiting from a widespread acai frenzy spurred by televised exposure on the Oprah show. Its then “guru” Dr. Oz spoke highly of the nutritional benefits of acai and declared it the perfect “superfood”. These companies have given the Acai fruit a bad name by exaggerating the benefits of the fruit as a magic bullet for weight loss and trapping consumers in expensive credit card charging schemes. Many of these companies have been identified and are being held accountable for their illegal activities by the attorneys general of many states and Oprah and Dr. Oz himself.
Still, there are many very good and reputable companies that are working hard to continue offering very good Acai products to the public. Acai has many good and beneficial qualities that support good health. Just as the fruit sustained the wild Indian tribes of the Amazon rainforest, we too can enjoy the Acai fruit as a dietary supplement that can sustain us in our modern world. Surprisingly, antioxidants (boost immune health), monounsaturated fats (the good ones), fiber (good for cardiovascular and digestive health), phytosterols, and amino acids (improve muscle contraction) all work together synergistically to provide a anti-inflammatory result. Many of our modern disease processes are inflammatory diseases. In our world of so much pollution and overexposure to harmful elements, we have rediscovered the power of antioxidants. Acai is a very good source of antioxidants that have been shown to be easily absorbed into the human bloodstream. It is truly surprising to realize that the old adage “the more things change, the more they stay the same” is just as true as in the case of Acai. A fruit that once gave life to a dying tribe of jungle Indians brings to life in the modern world those who will add Acai to their diet as a dietary supplement.