The açai berry comes from South America’s Amazon rain forest. The small, deep-purple fruit the size of a blueberry comes from a palm tree, Euterpe oleracea, which has trunks up to 75 feet high. The berries hang in clusters from ribbon-like branches at the top of the tree and until recently have been harvested by hand.

Each açai palm tree produces four to eight bunches of berries throughout the year, equaling approximately 50 pounds of fruit. A typical açai palm generally doesn’t start producing fruit until it is about 4 to 5 years old.

The açai berry has been valued for its medical properties for centuries – but it has never expanded beyond its immediate growing area as the berry’s properties are active for only 24 hours. In recent years, however, advances in freeze-drying technology has allowed the berry to harvested, stored and later processed into use by people outside of Brazil.

The explosion in the popularity of the açai berry as an antioxidant supplement has proved to be an enormous benefit to the Amazon and its surrounding tropical forests. The açai palm was originally harvested for its palm hearts (Hearts of Palm), taking the place of another palm that was harvested almost to extinction. The local communities in Brazil now have an economic interest to cultivate and harvest the palm bearing the açai berries instead of cutting them down.

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