NEW SUPERFOOD

Acai Berry Boom!

A lot of people say a tiny fruit is having a huge impact on their health. The "acai" berry is generating a multi-billion-pound juice industry.

Acai is the name of a small, tasty, and extremely healthy berry that is now available for the first time in Denmark. It is pronounced “asa’i" with emphasis on the last syllable. This little, purple berry, which tastes like a combination of blueberries and chocolate, grows on palm trees along the basin of the Amazon river.

For decade the peoples of the rainforests have benefited from this fruit, to which they attribute healing properties. Clinical studies reveal that this fruit contains a long series of vitamins and minerals, as well as Omega 6 and Omega 9 fatty acids. Acai is traditionally eaten raw, but the berry contains so many antioxidants that it should either be eaten immediately or frozen. It can be compared to an apple, which rapidly browns if you peel the skin off it and let it sit. In today's Brazil the berries are harvested and then filtered and flash-frozen, like passion fruit. Sakes of frozen acai have exploded over the last decade in Brazil.

Acai can be enjoyed as at breakfast, as a snack, or as a dessert. In Denmark, acai is purchased frozen, and then taken out of the freezer and allowed to thaw for 10-15 minutes, or, alternatively, defrosted in a microwave. It is ready to eat at minus 7 degrees C. There is no doubt that acai is an extraordinary health food. It is a new development in the United States that acai is available in frozen form, though it has already been available on the American market in the form of supplements and natural medicines.