Acai Palm #1- The History

Pronounced Ah-sci-EE, this Palm is native to Central and South America. Acai Palms grow mainly around floodplains and swamps. The meaning of "Acai" in Portuguese is "fruit that cries or expels water".

The Acai Palm has many useful qualities. The heart of the palm is often consumed in salads. The leaves are used to make hats, mats, baskets, brooms, and roof thatch for homes. The trunk is used for building construction because of its resistance to pests. The seeds are used to make a variety of jewelry and souvenirs. Some of the seeds are even ground up for livestock food or for additional nutrients in organic soil.

The Acai Berry itself is very small, round, and is a dark black-purple color. Its resemblance looks much like a grape or blueberry, but with a very large seed and a small amount of pulp. In Brazilian herbal medicine, the oil of the Acai fruit is used to treat diarrhea; an infusion of the grated fruit rind is used as a topical wash for skin ulcers; and the fruit seeds are crushed and prepared in an infusion for fevers. In the Peruvian Amazon, an infusion of the toasted crushed seeds are used for a fever. In Colombia, where the trees grow along the pacific coast line, it is called "Naidi" and the fruit is turned into a common and popular drink.


This leads us to the most common use for the Acai Palm. The Acai Palm was introduced to the western world in the 1990's. The juice created out of the Acai berry is extracted from the small round fruit by soaking the seeds in water to soften the thin outer shell and then squeezing and straining them to produce a tasty dense purple liquid. Most of the indigenous population will consume up to 2 liters per day of this juice. The amazing health benefits backed by scientific research on these small berry's is bound to surprise you.


The following post will explain more on the health qualities of the Acai Berry...