The short answer… Brazil.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc-Hb4kM5J8

Acai berries grow in the Amazon rainforest and nowhere else. And while a banana grown in South American can make it safely to the United States ready to be eaten, acai berries can’t be imported.

They simply spoil too quickly – even faster than strawberries – with a shelf life of just 24 hrs once harvested.

That’s why in the U.S. and most other countries, you’ll have to get your acai berries in juice, pill, capsule, or frozen pulp form.

But I’ve been told that it’s well worth the visit to Brazil to get your hands on the berry fresh.  I had a friend visit recently and he almost didn’t come back, he enjoyed it so much.

Fresh Acai Berries – Why Can’t We Get Them is a post from: Acai Berry

Up until about ten years ago, no one had even heard of acai berries outside some of the more remote areas of the Amazon Rain forest in South America. In fact, the native peoples of the Amazon have been using the acai fruit for thousands of years to treat skin blemishes and digestive disorders, not to mention as a tasty addition to their everyday diet.

Eventually word got out to the local population of Brazil living outside the rainforest and spread to the Brazilian beaches through a boom in smoothie sales. That’s right, surfers figured out that those tasty little purple berries made for a perfect addition to their revitalizing smoothies and were perfect for regaining your strength through a long hard day of surfing. Soon these little smoothie stands turned into something of a big business for Brazilian beaches and the word spread.

From there research scientists got involved in an attempt to discover if the little purple berries were really all they were said to be. Their results are still rippling throughout the scientific community today. As it turns out, the benefits of acai berries were actually more than a little understated.

Acai is incredibly rich in antioxidants, a key ingredient in the fight against cancer and aging. They battle free radicals your body is exposed to through stress and exposure to pollution, and help revitalize your body?s systems. They are also chock full of vitamins and minerals and other nutrients, as well as having the same essential fatty acids as olives. This means they help boost your good cholesterol levels as much as the olive oil rich Mediterranean diet, and even has many of the same heart healthy benefits as red wine.

From there the word spread and acai berries could soon be found on health food store shelves across the world as people figured out how to increase their shelf life from the original 24 hours to an almost indefinite amount of time through the use of processing methods, preservatives and good storage practices. While the acai berry may have originally come from the Amazon rain forest and Brazil, they can now be found almost anywhere in the world in a wide variety of nutritious and tasty forms.

Where do Acai Berries Come From? is a post from: Acai Berry

The acai berry is a fruit which is about the size of a grape which grows on a tree which is native to the Amazon River basin in South America. For millennia, the peoples of this region have used the fruit for its nutritional benefits and as a integral part of their diets.

Not only is the acai berry a very important part of the diet of the region’s inhabitants, it has become increasingly popular in the US and elsewhere in the world thanks to its many health benefits.

The acai berry is mostly composed of pulp but due to its extremely short shelf life (the berry begins to spoil within hours of picking), it is problematic to export the fruit. In recent years, however there have been advances in processing, storage and shipping which have allowed the rest of the world to be introduced to the fruit. There are many great acai products out there which contain the healthful properties of this incredible fruit – but there are also acai products which have very little nutritional value left due to being heavily processed.

A very popular fruit in the countries where it is grown, the Brazlian acai berry is also very healthy. This little berry has more antioxidants than just about any other fruit – it has five times more antioxidants than the blueberry (already a very healthy food in its own right). The antioxidants can help prevent or alleviate many diseases ranging from the mild to the very serious. Not only does the acai berry have these health benefits, but it also provides a natural energy boost.

You might not think much of the taste of this fruit, but the acai is really delectable, the taste being somewhere between a punch of berries and chocolate. It has become more favored by many as a drink than wheatgrass.

If you’d like to try acai berry for yourself, look for acai products which are processed only minimally, since these will have more of the nutritional benefits of the fruit. Make sure to read labels and choose lightly processed acai products.

For anyone who wants to get more antioxidants in their diet, the Brazilian acai berry is a natural (and delicious) choice. Adding acai supplements to your diet just makes good sense. This fruit has been known for millennia in the Amazon River basin and is only now becoming available to those of us elsewhere in the world. Once you try this health-giving fruit, you’ll be hooked.

Brazilian Acai Berry is a post from: Acai Berry