Ambrosia of the Amazon :: Food and Nutrition :: Whole Foods

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Ambrosia of the Amazon
by author Chris Kilham

Açai (Euterpe oleracea) was as deep purple as any food I had ever seen. In fact, a spill stained a favourite t-shirt of mine forever. I loved the rich flavour of açai and the energy it imparted, and I consumed as much as I could during the course of my time on the river.

On a later trip to the lush green Brazilian rainforest, I watched several hard-working Brazilians climb tall açai palms, cut branches laden with ripe purple açai berries, and strip the berries into baskets, readying them for processing. Açai is a staple food throughout Amazonia and owes that status to its marvellous flavour and powerful health benefits.

Açai explodes with flavour, and gets better with every mouthful. Rich in the potent purple pigments called anthocyanins, açai has a higher antioxidant activity rating than bilberries or blueberries, and is rich in beneficial dietary fibres. A glass of blended açai fruit, with just a slight touch of guarana (Paullinia cupana) and certified organic sugar, is a powerful energy booster. No wonder endurance cyclists and ball players have taken to this fruit.

Sustainable Harvest

Harvested in the wild from August through December in the hot, humid Amazon rainforest, açai is a high-labour fruit. I observe the remarkable climbing skills of the harvesters and realize with some sadness that I could never climb trees like that, let alone do it every day. These guys are amazing.

After watching harvesting, we are invited into a large wooden house with open windows, and about a dozen children crowd around us to watch a woman prepare açai the traditional way. Commercial Açai is prepared in juice-manufacturing facilities in sterile stainless steel equipment. But in this house, the preparation is all performed by hand. The woman hand grinds the berries through fibre mats, until the juice and fine pulp drip into a container underneath. After labouring on our behalf for more than half an hour, she serves us açai. Several of us spoon the rich berry preparation into our mouths, and laugh at our good fortune. “Now this is how to eat açai,” one of the growers declares. The açai is like ambrosia.

Over the coming years, we will hear a lot about sustainability. The term will emerge as the hot buzzword, like the term organic did in the early 1980s. We’ll see the sustainable label used by organic growers and petroleum companies alike. Wild-harvested açai, if worked with in a manner that protects the rainforest, has the power to help sustain at least some of the precious Amazon through solid economic benefits. With açai, we not only get excellent nutrition but also the possibility of a greener future.

Chris Kilham is Explorer In Residence at University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he teaches ethnobotany.

Source: alive #283, May 2006

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