Theaçaí palm (/əˈsaɪ.iː/,Portuguese:[asaˈi]ⓘ,fromNheengatuasai),[2]Euterpe oleracea, is a species ofpalm tree (Arecaceae) cultivated for itsfruit (açaí berries, or simply açaí),hearts of palm (a vegetable), leaves, and trunk wood. Global demand for the fruit has expanded rapidly in the 21st century, and the tree is cultivated for that purpose primarily.
The species is native to easternAmazonia, especially in Brazil, mainly inswamps andfloodplains. Açaí palms are tall, slender trees growing to more than 25 m (82 ft) tall, withpinnate leaves up to 3 m (9.8 ft) long.[3] The fruit is small, round, and black-purple in color. The fruit became astaple food in floodplain areas around the 18th century,[4][5] but its consumption inurban areas and promotion as ahealth food only began in the mid 1990s along with the popularization of other Amazonian fruits outside the region.[5]
The folklore says that chief Itaqui ordered all newborns put to death owing to a period of famine. When his own daughter gave birth and the child was sacrificed, she cried and died beneath a newly sprouted tree. The tree fed the tribe and was called açaí because that was the daughter's name (Iaçá) spelled backwards.[6]
The fruit, commonly known as açaí or açaí berry,[9] is a small, round, black-purpledrupe about 25 mm (1 in) in circumference, similar in appearance to a grape, but smaller and with less pulp and produced in branchedpanicles of 500 to 900 fruits. Theexocarp of the ripe fruits is a deep purple color, or green, depending on the kind of açaí and its maturity. Themesocarp is pulpy and thin, with a consistent thickness of 1 mm (0.04 in) or less. It surrounds the voluminous and hardendocarp, which contains a single largeseed about 7–10 mm (0.3–0.4 in) in diameter. The seed makes up about 60–80% of the fruit. The palm bears fruit year round but the berry cannot be harvested during the rainy season.
There are two harvests: one is normally between January and June, while the other is between August and December, producing larger volumes.[10] In 2022, the state ofPará, which accounts for 90% of Brazil's total açaí economy, produced 8,158 tonnes (17,985,000 lb) of açaí berries, generating US$26 million in revenue.[11] The 2022 production was 209 times greater than the volume produced in 2012.[11]
Children as young as 13 years old are employed aslaborers to harvest the fruit, usingmachetes to clear paths in therainforest, and climbing trees up to 70 feet (21 m) tall without harnesses to collect berries in the canopy, a process leading to falls and severe injuries in some children.[11]
Few namedcultivars exist, andvarieties differ mostly in the nature of the fruit:
Branco ("White") is a rare variety local to the Amazonestuary in which the berries do not change color, but remain green when ripe. This is believed to be due to arecessive gene since only about 30% of 'Branco' palm seeds mature to express this trait.[12]
A powdered preparation of freeze-dried açaí fruit pulp and skin was reported to contain (per 100 g of dry powder) 534calories, 52 gcarbohydrates, 8 gprotein, and 33 g totalfat. The carbohydrate portion included 44 g ofdietary fiber with low sugar levels, and the fat portion consisted ofoleic acid (56% of total fats),palmitic acid (24%), andlinoleic acid (13%).[15] The powder was also shown to contain (per 100 g) negligiblevitamin C, 260 mgcalcium, 4 mgiron, and 1002IUvitamin A.[15]
Anthocyanins define the bluepigmentation of açaí and theantioxidant capacity of the plant's naturaldefense mechanisms[16] and in laboratory experimentsin vitro.[17] Anthocyanins in açaí accounted for only about 10% of the overall antioxidant capacity in vitro.[18] TheLinus Pauling Institute andEuropean Food Safety Authority state that "the relative contribution of dietaryflavonoids to (...) antioxidant function in vivo is likely to be very small or negligible".[19][20][21] Unlike in controlled test tube conditions, anthocyanins have been shown to be poorly conserved (less than 5%)in vivo, and most of what is absorbed exists as chemically modified metabolites destined for rapid excretion.[22][23]
In the 1980s, the BrazilianGracie family marketed açaí as an energy drink or as crushed fruit served with granola and bananas; this demand led to the building ofcottage industries and processing plants to pulp and freeze açaí for export.[25]
In the early 2000s, numerous companies advertised açaí products online, with many ads featuringcounterfeittestimonials and products.[25][26][27] In 2009, açaí scams were ranked No. 1 on theU.S. Federal Trade Commission's "scams and rip-offs" list, so that by 2011 sales of açaí flattened as thefad waned.[25]
According to the Washington, D.C.–basedCenter for Science in the Public Interest thousands of consumers had trouble stopping recurrent charges on their credit cards when they canceled free trials of some açai-based products.[28][29] In 2003, American celebrity doctorNicholas Perricone included açaí berries among"superfoods", but such extravagant marketing claims regarding açaí as miracle cures for everything from obesity to attention-deficit disorder were challenged in subsequent studies[which?].[30]
The FTC handed down an $80 million judgement in January 2012 against five companies that were marketing açaí berry supplements with fraudulent claims that their products promotedweight loss and preventedcolon cancer. One company, Central Coast Nutraceuticals, was ordered to pay a $1.5 million settlement.[31][32]
Brazil is a major producer, particularly in the state ofPará, which alone in 2019 produced more than 1.2 million tons of açaí, an amount equal to 95% of Brazil's total.[33]
Fresh açaí has been consumed as a dietary staple in the region around theAmazon river delta for centuries.[25][34] The fruit is processed into pulp for supply to food product manufacturers or retailers, sold as frozen pulp, juice, or an ingredient in various products from beverages, includinggrain alcohol,smoothies, foods,cosmetics andsupplements.[10] In Brazil, it is commonly eaten asaçaí na tigela.
In a study of three traditionalCaboclo populations in theBrazilian Amazon, açaí palm was described as the most important plant species because the fruit makes up a major component of their diet, up to 42% of the total food intake by weight.[35]
Açaí bowl
Açaí na tigela (known in English asaçaí bowl) is a Brazilian dessert made from frozen açaí berry purée, served in a bowl and topped with other fruit and granola.[36][37]
Leaves of the palm may be made into hats, mats, baskets, brooms and roof thatch for homes, and trunk wood, resistant to pests, for building construction.[41] Tree trunks may be processed to yielddietary minerals.[42]
Comprising 80% of the fruit mass, açaí seeds may be ground for livestock food or as a component of organic soil for plants. Planted seeds are used for new palm tree stock, which, under the right growing conditions, can require months to form seedlings.[41][43] Seeds may become waste in landfills or used as fuel for producing bricks.[44]
^abBrondízio, Eduardo S.; Safar, Carolina A.M.; Siqueira, Andréa D. (1 March 2002). "The urban market of Açaí fruit (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) and rural land use change: Ethnographic insights into the role of price and land tenure constraining agricultural choices in the Amazon estuary".Urban Ecosystems.6 (1): 71.Bibcode:2002UrbEc...6...67B.doi:10.1023/A:1025966613562.ISSN1573-1642.S2CID25276291.
^Marcason, W. (2009). "What is the Açaí Berry and Are There Health Benefits?".Journal of the American Dietetic Association.109 (11): 1968.doi:10.1016/j.jada.2009.09.017.PMID19857637.
^Simon PW (1996)."Plant Pigments for Color and Nutrition". Vegetable Crops Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI.
^Lotito SB, Frei B (2006). "Consumption of flavonoid-rich foods and increased plasma antioxidant capacity in humans: cause, consequence, or epiphenomenon?".Free Radic. Biol. Med.41 (12):1727–46.doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2006.04.033.PMID17157175.
^Williams RJ, Spencer JP, Rice-Evans C (April 2004). "Flavonoids: antioxidants or signalling molecules?".Free Radical Biology & Medicine.36 (7):838–49.doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2004.01.001.PMID15019969.
^Gallori, S. (2004). "Polyphenolic Constituents of Fruit Pulp of Euterpe oleracea Mart. (Acai palm)".Chromatographia.59 (11–12).doi:10.1365/s10337-004-0305-x.S2CID94388806.
^abcPacheco-Palencia LA, Mertens-Talcott S, Talcott ST (June 2008). "Chemical composition, antioxidant properties, and thermal stability of a phytochemical enriched oil from Açaí (Euterpe oleracea Mart.)".J Agric Food Chem.56 (12):4631–6.Bibcode:2008JAFC...56.4631P.doi:10.1021/jf800161u.PMID18522407.
^Neida, S; Elba, S. (2007). "Characterization of the acai or manaca (Euterpe oleracea Mart.): a fruit of the Amazon".Arch Latinoam Nutr (in Spanish).57 (1):94–8.PMID17824205.
^abSilva, S. & Tassara, H. (2005). Fruit Brazil Fruit. São Paulo, Brazil, Empresa das Artes
^Dyer, A. P. 1996. Latent energy inEuterpe oleracea. Biomass Energy Environ., Proc. Bioenergy Conf. 9th.
^Córdova-Fraga T, de Araujo DB, Sanchez TA, et al. (April 2004). "Euterpe olerácea (Açaí) as an alternative oral contrast agent in MRI of the gastrointestinal system: preliminary results".Magn Reson Imaging.22 (3):389–93.doi:10.1016/j.mri.2004.01.018.PMID15062934.
