The açai berry is considered to be particularly he althy and is currently very trendy. We get to the bottom of it and clarify what the miracle berry is all about.
Açai berries have been on the shelves in organic markets in particular for a number of years, whether as powder, muesli bars or ice cream. The black berry seems to have established itself as a new superfood. Find out what this trendy fruit is all about and where it actually comes from in this article.
Açai Berry: Origin and Properties
The açai berry is the fruit of a cabbage palm (Euterpe oleracea), native to the humid valleys and flood plains of the Amazon basin. The multi-stemmed palm reaches a height of up to 25 meters and a trunk diameter of just up to 20 centimeters. It needs a very warm and humid climate with at least 21 °C and more than 70% humidity. The deep violet to black fruits hang in thousands on long and heavily branched inflorescences. Once a year, each trunk of the cabbage palm bears up to six kilograms of fruit, which has to be laboriously harvested by hand. The açai berry is actually a stone fruit, the stone of which takes up about 90% of the fruit, so that there is hardly any pulp left for further processing. The pulp and skin are dried, mashed, or boiled to make powder or pulp. However, the fruits can hardly be stored, which is why you cannot buy fresh produce outside of South America. However, it has a high fat content and therefore a high nutritional value, which is particularly important for the inhabitants of the rainforests. The Açai hardly tastes sweet, its taste is considered to be creamy-fatty to earthy and nutty. In the Amazon, it is an everyday staple and with its extremely high antioxidant content it is even considered an anti-aging agent.
What are the advantages of the açai berry?
In fact, the Açai not only has a high nutritional value with about 250 kilocalories per 100 grams - in powder form even 500 kilocalories - and the digestive fiber is also surprisingly highheld before. Açai also contains plenty of vitamins A, C and iron. The dark coloring dye anthocyanin is present in large quantities and has a cell-protecting effect as a scavenger of free radicals. Their high he alth value is therefore undisputed. In all kinds of cosmetics and dietary supplements you can buy the Açai at exorbitant prices. However, compared to other local fruits - such as the aronia or chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa) - it does not fare much better.
What are the arguments against the acai berry?
Unfortunately, açai products have had a long, climate-damaging transport behind them when they finally reach our shelves. In addition, due to the high demand, entire plantations are now being created to satisfy the European hunger for superfoods. Similar to oil palms, rainforests are now giving way to monocultures of the cabbage palm and the crops also need regular irrigation. For these reasons, it is better to use regionally produced blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum) or chokeberry, which put significantly less strain on the climate and the wilderness and are just as he althy at the same time.
If you are interested in a superfood that you can grow in your own garden, we recommend our special article on goji berries.