Fresh acai berries provide the best nutritional benefits. But, because the berries are so highly perishable, unless you are in Central or South America where the acai palm trees grow, it simply isn’t possible to have the berries in their fresh state. Fortunately, manufacturers have found a way to produce acai berry pulp. This pulp has nearly the same benefits as the fresh berries, yet it can be exported anywhere in the world.

It is common these days to see acai as an ingredient in various juices, smoothies, and even energy bars and other foods. But, just like any other food, the more it is processed, the less nutrient dense it becomes. This is why it is best to look for acai berry pulp. It is sold raw and unprocessed (though it is either sold in powdered or frozen form), so it hasn’t lost any nutritional or health benefits.

You may also consider acai berry juice; in fact, juicing the acai berries is the most common way that they are manufactured and prepared for exporting out of the country. But, acai juice lacks at least one of the nutrients that the acai berry pulp contains—fiber. During the juicing process, most of the fiber in the acai berries is lost. And, since this fruit is a good source of fiber if it is consumed in either fresh or pulp form, it makes better sense to seek out the pulp if possible.

There are two types of acai berry pulp you can purchase—acai berry powder or frozen acai berry pulp. Both are equally nutrient rich, and both preserve nearly all of the advantages of the fresh fruit. There is a major difference between berry powder and frozen pulp, though—the taste. Frozen pulp keeps the unique chocolate berry flavor of the acai berries intact, whereas berry powder tends to lose a great deal of the flavor. So, if the taste is important to you, you may want to stick with the frozen pulp.

Frozen acai berry pulp is made by using a flash freezing process. The berries are picked from the tree, cleaned, de seeded, and frozen (sometimes all while still in the forest) within 18 to 24 hours. The frozen pulp can then be shipped out. Depending upon the company that is doing the manufacturing, the pulp may be either pure acai (which is preservative free and soy lethicin free) or the pulp may have something added to it. It is not uncommon for companies to add sweeteners like evaporated cane juice whole grape puree, for example. Or, they may supplement the pulp with an additive like guarana, which is known to increase stamina and suppress the appetite. Avoid companies that add caffeine or sugar, as these can work against some of the health benefits of the acai.

Powder made from the acai berry pulp is sold in two forms. It can be purchased either in pure powder form or in the form of capsules filled with powder. When purchasing either, look for a brand that is free of any fillers or additives—the powder should be 100% pure acai.

Getting the health benefits you desire from acai berry is a lot trickier than it may seem. There are a lot of huge claims made by companies selling acai berry products, and not all of them are legitimate. Some of them are exaggerations, while others are just outright lies that are completely unverified by the scientific community. Even if you have very realistic expectations about what acai berry can do for you, there are still problems that you might run into.

The number one problem that most people searching for acai products have is finding a product that is processed in such a way that the acai berry doesn’t lose its health benefits. What most companies won’t tell you is that acai very quickly dies and loses its health benefits once it is plucked from its tree. There many processes used to turn the berry into acai berry powder, acai berry drinks, or other acai supplements – and most of them don’t do a good job of preserving the nutrients in the berry.

At first glance, acai berry powder seems like it has a lot of benefits. It doesn’t need to be refrigerated like other acai products, so it’s easy to take on trips or take to work with you every day. If you don’t like the strong taste of acai, then acai berry powder can be added to something you do like so you don’t have to taste it as much. You can mix it in with a tasty smoothie or even yogurt and get the health benefits without even noticing that you’re consuming acai.

While those benefits can be nice, it’s important to understand how the acai got into powder form. There are several different methods by which acai can be preserved, and not all of them actually maintain the high levels of antioxidants, fibers, and Omega fats that make acai as healthy as it is. For instance, some companies use methods such as spray drying and drum drying to preserve acai berries. These methods use heat to remove excess water from the berries, but end up destroying most of the nutrients in the process.

If you want to find the best quality acai berry powder products, then you need to look for products that are freeze dried. Unlike the other methods of preservation, freeze drying uses cold instead of heat. This method lets the berry keep most of its nutrients intact so that you get the full effect of the acai.

In addition to looking for products that are freeze dried, you should also seek out those with a high ORAC value. ORAC stands for oxygen radical absorbance capacity, and it is a measure of the amount and efficacy of antioxidants in a food. Antioxidants are one of the key health boosters founds in acai. A high value means that most of the antioxidants have been preserved, so that is the sort of acai berry powder that you want to buy. Keep these two important factors in mind and you’ll find the best acai products on the market.

The acai berry is a fruit that grows naturally in Brazil. The locals have used it for many years and have included it in many of their every day foods and drinks. They use it as flavoring for ice cream, mix it into fruit smoothies, and even create acai berry tapioca. The reason they use it so much has to do with its taste, but also involves its incredible health benefits that come along with it. If the Brazilians love it so much, you might be wondering “How can acai berry benefit me?”

You’ve probably seen the hundreds of ads that talk about the acai berry benefit towards weight loss. Oprah talked about it on her show, infomercials spend an hour every night dancing around what the product actually does, and web pages all over the internet are trying to get you to try their product free. Still, they rarely go into the specific benefits that the acai berry has, mostly because a lot of these products don’t work.

The acai berry itself has a lot of nutritional value, but when products only contain a small portion of the acai berry, benefit may not be a word used to describe the product in any way. Some of these pills and powders will use different parts of the plant as opposed to the actual fruit. Roots and seeds have no nutritional content when it comes to the acai plant, so these products don’t actually have anything helpful in them. They usually just fill up their product with other herbal extract such as green tea and ginseng, stuff you could get for half the price in any generic over the counter supplement.

Some of these companies will put the acai berry fruit in them, but they have such a small percentage that it doesn’t actually do any good. These companies can advertise, legally, that they have acai in their products and label them as acai something or other despite the products not having enough in them to give you the benefits you want.

There are legitimate acai products on the market that have the acai berry benefit that so many celebrities are talking about. The way to tell is that they will advertise a high ratio of acai berry fruit to other ingredients. Some companies may even sell pure concentrated juice, although that can get very expensive. Alternatively, eating some of the same acai berry foods mixtures that are popular in Brazil may be enough to start seeing the benefits. Fruit smoothies and granola mixes are healthy and a great way to include acai berries in your diet.

It has been called the “number one super food in the world.” Experts have raved about its nutrients and other benefits including healthy fats and antioxidants—on the news as well as on national shows like Oprah and The Rachel Ray Show. Some supermarkets are beginning to sell products like acai berry juices and acai pulp. So many people are wondering—just where do acai berries come from?

Most people aren’t lucky enough to have access to fresh acai berries. These berries grow on trees that are found in one of the more remote areas of the world—the Amazon rainforest. And unfortunately, acai berries cannot be exported to other countries. Due to their high fat content, the berries go rancid within one day of being picked from the trees; therefore, it would be impossible for fresh berries to ever reach the marketplace here in the United States. However, because acai pulp, juices, and supplements are available, anyone can enjoy the health benefits of the acai berry.

There are actually several species of acai palm trees native to Central America and South America. The trees, which can grow to be nearly 100 feet tall, are found in Peru and Brazil, and only as far north as Belize, growing in or near swamps. Acai trees produce both the fruits and another popular edible product—hearts of palm, which are consumed as vegetables, most typically in salads. But, the berries are what make the trees so important to the Amazon area because they are in great global demand.

Acai berries actually resemble grapes in their outward appearance. Ripe fruits can be deep green or shades of purple or even blackish purple, depending upon the tree species from which they grew. The berries grow in branched groups of between 700 to 900 berries. Each tree can grow two crops of berries per year. The fruit is harvested by local people living in the area, without the use of any machinery. One person climbs a tree to chop down one of the berry bunches, which he then brings down to someone else waiting below. The second person then plucks off all of the fruit by hand. After several baskets of berries have been harvested they are taken by boat to a drop off manufacturing point at a nearby village. The acai berries must be processed within 24 hours of being picked.

The demand for this fruit has grown to a great degree over the last few years. This is because as the nutritional benefits of the berries have become more widely known, more people have wanted to have access to the fruit. Scientists are still studying the acai berry, but there have been several discoveries. It has been shown that this fruit can:

• Help fight aging and improve skin appearance
• Improve vision
• Assist in fighting cancer and heart disease
• Boost energy
• Encourage weight loss
• Maintain healthy cholesterol levels
• Promote better sleep
• Enhance sexual performance
• Support digestive health