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If you are looking for the best in life, combining pleasure, health and socio-environmental consciousness, you need to know about Acai (ah-sigh-EE). In trying this incredible berry of the Amazon, beyond pleasing your palate with a flavor that blends acid with chocolate, nourishing your body with high vitamin content, anti-oxidants, proteins, fibers and other fundamental nutrients for good health, you also contribute to conserving the Amazon rainforest. It may seem too much, but we at Rainforesta help you to understand why this Amazonian pearl is changing minds and the conscience of all the world, beyond giving delicious recipes of how to prepare your daily dose of health, mixing Rainforesta acai with fruits, cereal and many other ingredients.
The Açai Berry
| THE FRUIT
Acai, indigenously known as "ica-cai," a fruit that cries is small, round and a deep, dark red. To encounter this semi-black pearl, nothing is better than getting on a boat in the north of Brazil. This is because acai hangs in abundant clusters high atop palm trees as acaizeiros that grow along river banks and in humid meadows (wetlands) of Brazil's north. |
O Acaizero with the scientific name of Eutrepe oleracea Mart can reach the height of 30 meters. Evertyhing from this huge tree can be used: its leaves are used to cover houses; its wood is used in rural construction; its dry leaves are utilized for brooms; its seeds are used for handicrafts; its leaf fronds are raw material for weaving hats and woven trays .these are used as standard measure for the tranport and trade of the fruit; its roots serve as a vermifuge agent, and its palm hearts serve as nourishment and remedy.
Acai is a very important food in the diet of the inhabitants of the Amazon, where their consumption goes back to Pre-Colombian times. Today, it is also cultivated in other Brazilian states, introduced to the rest of the national market with modifications in how it is consumed.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to eat this incredible fruit naturally outside the zones of acai production. It is because this is highly perishable, losing its nutritional capacity after 24 hours of extraction. In order to be consumed, acai should immediately after extraction, be made into a pulp by a proper machine or manually beaten to a pulp. In releasing the pulp and mixing it with water, it is transformed into a thick juice also known as acai wine, a raw material for our products. In the factory of our producers, acai is then pasteurized, according to lawful standards, frozen and packed, awaiting its secure and hygienic transport to the United States.
Rainforest natives
| AN INDIGENOUS LEGEND
According to legend, there existed populous indigenous tribe. As food was scarce, it was difficult to obtain food for all the tribe. Thus, Chief Itaki made a most cruel decision. Resolved to end their days, all new-borns were sacrificed in order to avoid the population increase of the tribe. Until one day, the chief's daughter Iaca gave birth to a girl who also had to be sacrificed. Iaca was desperate, crying every night with sadness. |
Staying enclosed for several day in her dwelling and begging with Tupa to show her father another way of helping his people without sacrificing the children. Approaching the door of her dwelling, she saw her smiling little girl, at the foot of a tall palm tree. She threw herself in front of the girl, embracing her. But mysteriously, her daughter disappeared. Iaca, inconsolable, cried incessantly until she died. The following day her body met the embrace of the palm tree's trunk, yet her face still had the trace of a happy smile and her eyes faced the top of the palm tree, which is loaded with the dark fruit. Itaki, thereby, ordered to take down the fruit and make a red wine that was baptized acai, in honor of his daughter (Iaca inverted). With his people fed, from that day forward, the order to sacrifice the children was suspended.
| NUTRICIOUS BENEFITS
Have you already heard it said that a glass of red wine per day is good for the heart? Could be, this must be antocianina, a nutrient of grape also present in açaí. Its not for example that the color of açaí is similar to red wine, but with a difference that the presence of antocianinas is 33 times more in Açaí.
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Beyond the enormous fraction of compost, acai has many important nutrients for our body that places this incredible fruit on the list of the healthiest foods in the world. According to Dr. Perricone's "Dr. Perricone's 10 Superfoods": "The 10 featured here were chosen because of their direct link to the Brain-Beauty Connection. These foods (listed here in alphabetical order) are rich in either the Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs), antioxidants or fiber, and as in the case of açaí-all three! In addition, we have included foods that have been proven to lower or help regulate blood sugar levels-an extremely important factor for all of those concerned with slowing the aging process and preventing diabetes, obesity, wrinkles and a host of degenerative diseases".
Research is being made by Brazillian universities and labs as well as other parts of the world. Each new discovery increases the number of consumers and scientists interested in this natural source of health that never ceases to surprise us. It looks like the açaí is for the healthy generation.
Check this out:
• Açaí is an important, essential food. The amount of lipids in its juice is two times higher in energy value than in milk.
• Due to its high quantity of Vitamin E, it makes it an important anitoxidant that eliminates free radicals.
• It contains lots of fibers, which helps bowel movements
• It has higher levels of protein than milk.
• It's rich in minerals, especially potassium and calcium, which makes açaí and even more complete food.
• On top of everything else, it contains Viatamin A, B1, B2, B3 and C.
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• The oil extracted from açaí is made of fattty acids of good quality with 60% mono-unsaturated and 13% of poly-unsaturated
• The high amount of purple-violet pigment that are also anti-oxidants, helps improve blood circulation and protects your body against arteriosclerosis.
• The combination of its antioxidant and antimicrobe capacity can lead, in the near future, to the production of anti-aging cream or gel, which counters premature aging and also the prevention of skin infection
• Research has been made to prove that açaí extract helps the treatment of prostate enlargement, an illness that hits men even earlier in life. At the same time, studies show that açaí is low in toxic content, which makes its extract safe to be used for pharmacuetical production.
• Laboratory research from the University of Florida demonstrates that açaí contains active antioxidants that destroy cancerous cells.
All these discoveries and those yet to be known make açaí one of the most nutritious fruits in the world. And above all, you can have all the healthy benefits with a lot of pleasure, because Rainforesta açaí is deliciously healthy
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