Euterpe oleracea

acai palm

Recently, the acai fruit has become an extremely popular dietary supplement among health-conscious consumers, being marketed as a “new, mysterious power fruit of the Amazon.” It is most commonly found in juice form, with claims regarding great polyphenol and antioxidant properties, which purportedly have a number of positive effects in areas like mood, virility, body weight, diabetes, and cancer. Most of these claims, however, were made by marketing companies prior to any studies on medicinal effects of the fruit on humans, and from the studies done so far, it seems most of the claims are unfounded. While the fruit does have polyphenol and antioxidant properties, they are comparable (amount per fruit) to those found in strawberries, blueberries, and grapes, among other fruits. Anthocyanins in acai are more unstable than those in other fruits, so it degrades easily in the presence of heat and other compounds. Even if kept refrigerated, the anthocyanins begin to break down after only twelve hours. Brazilians are baffled by the recent infatuation with the fruit and the prices we are willing to pay for what they call “poor-man’s juice,” available prepared for about $2 per liter. Here's an ABC news story from 2010 about acai, and although there has been further research on it since, it provides a good summary of many aspects of the fruit's story:

In addition to drinking the juice on its own or with sugar, people who live in its native habitat mix it with manioc (a root starch) to create a filling porridge. The juice is also used to flavor liquors, ice cream, and a number of other desserts.

Besides being edible, the deep-purple fruits make a good dye. The seeds leftover from use of the fruit may either be replanted or crushed up to make livestock feed.

Although most famous for its fruit, the acai palm is useful in many other ways, especially to those who live in the neotropical rainforests. The acai palm heart (the bud at the top of each palm trunk) is popular both locally and internationally. Many of the palm hearts we buy come from the acai palm because it grows so abundantly in tropical regions and produces multiple trunks per plant. After an acai palm is felled for its heart and fruits, the leaves are cut for use as thatch for house roofs, and the trunks are urinated upon to attract a certain species of palm beetle, yielding a harvest of “tasty” beetle larvae several weeks later. If folks have had their fill of beetles, the trunk can also be used in construction.

Acai palm likes it warm year-round and also requires a good amount of moisture in the soil - it can even do well in swampy areas.