The history of the Acai Berry

The acai berry has been a recent fascination of the whole world and especially America, but it's been around and been important for a lot longer than just a few years. The very special berry has been important to many different cultures for a long time and has contributed a lot to the health of many people. Here is a brief history of the acai berry to help you understand more about where it comes from and where it is going.

The Acai palm tree grows in tropical areas and one of the most important places it grows is Brazil. It has long been a super food in Brazil and other South and Central American countries. It is a small purple berry that grows on the acai palm and is harvested directly from the tree. It is known for its very high nutritional content and provides many health benefits for people who include it in their diets. The tree is itself is quite tall and produces about 40-50 pounds of fruit per year. The trees generally produce fruit twice a year.

The acai berry has been a traditional food for the native people of Brazil for hundreds of years and has been around maybe for thousands. The berry is also a very important character in their folklore and an important part of their legend culture too. There was an Amazon girl named Iaca who was the daughter of the tribal chief. The tribe started to run out of food and the chief had to declare that all the babies born would have to be killed to keep the rest of the tribe alive. Iaca was going to have a child and her child was also to be included in the death toll. She mourned her child for several days and when she thought she heard a baby crying and went out of the tent she found a tree sprouting and she laid down under the tree and died of grief. The tribe found her body under the tree and the fruit of the tree satisfied the hunger that they had felt for so long and helped them regain their strength. The decree to kill all the children was lifted and the tree was named after his daughter Iaca (Acai is Iaca spelled backwards). This is where the tradition of the Acai tree and berries comes from.

So eating the acai berry has become a tradition and remained one for the natives for hundreds of years. Most people have a bowl of acai berries in the morning with their breakfast to provide nutrients and energy for the whole day.

In the 1950's and 60's, doctors started to recognize the health benefits of the acai berry and started doing research to better understand what it an do for people. More and more research has been done over the years and the acai berry has recently become very popular in the USA as a health food. It has been recognized to be in the same league as other health foods like noni and other fruits that are very high in vitamins and other nutrients. It really wasn't introduced to the Western world until the 1990's when it started to pick up speed and popularity. The berry has quickly become a very important part of the finances of the Amazon as well and there are about 30,000 people who work every day to help meet the rising demand for acai berries all over the world. Demand has been increasing steadily and will continue to increase over then next few years and people really begin to understand the true value of the acai berry to their health and wellness.