The Amazon encompasses 1.2 billion acres on the northern side of the South American continent, of which part is in Brazil and covers almost half of that vast country. In fact, the Amazon and its fertile land for various plants and animals that thrive in its exotic climate, that the products of the Amazon are better than what we call organic: they are wild. Things that grow in nature are strong in their own defense mechanisms to fight off insects and all kinds of fighters as a result. Amazonian products such as Brazil nut, guarana, and Acai berry are renowned for their complex composition and concentrated nutritional values.
Destruction of the rainforest!
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest peaked in 2004 and 2005. Satellite photos show loggers burned and logged a record close to more than 10,000 square miles of rainforest in 2004 alone.
One of the main reasons is the global demand for hearts of palm, which is a salad garnish. Poachers were known to illegally cut 5,000 to 10,000 palm trees a week. This was just to get the 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in) section found near the top of a 20 meter (65 ft) palm tree.
For this delicacy alone, a poacher would have cut down an average of 50 trees per day just to earn about $ 1 for each tree from which the heart of palm was extracted. Once the core is removed, the tree dies and rots.
A harvest from a palm tree that has grown for more than 100 years has enough of this delicacy to fill two 14-ounce cans of heart of palm. This would retail in a supermarket for less than $ 5.00 per can. To feed salad bars and salad connoisseurs around the world, is the palm and rainforest worth destroying? It is particularly wasteful because heart of palm has no particular nutritional value beyond its fiber.
This is not the case with the Acai berry, which has significant nutritional density and harvesting it is a completely different approach.
Harvesting Acai this way can protect the jungle!
Due to the great interest and demand for the Acai berry, this has started to help locals realize that cutting these precious palms just by a few inches from the top core of the tree was no longer a solution, and they found there are better ones out there. Available options. Each palm tree produces a bountiful harvest of Acai fruits twice a year. Within a few years, the value of the palm fruit itself far exceeded the value of removing the top heart of the palm just to use as a salad garnish.
Therefore, a legitimate reason was found not to cut down those trees by harvesting the Acai berry in another way.
Workers now climb into the 90-foot palm to collect what is known as the Black Pearl of the Amazon.
As these workers soon realized that this type of renowned harvest every year or in some cases twice a year is a better way to secure their jobs and increase their earnings.
Harvesting palm fruits is better for the environment because the palm will continue to grow for years. This was the way to stop unscrupulous loggers destroying Acai palms for quick profits.
This is opening another window of opportunity for the natives and showing them how to protect one of the best treasures they have, saving the palm tree that contributes so much to people’s health.
Preparations after harvesting the Acai berry!
The Amazon River is long and wide, and a ship can sail inland from the sea for more than 3,218 km (2,000 miles).
The river provides the best barge opportunity for transportation and quick preparations immediately after harvesting the fruit. The timing is crucial; If not cared for properly, the oxidation process begins and quickly spoils the delicate fruit.
Without a way to keep fruit refrigerated or processed quickly, it would spoil quickly as almost all foods in the tropics do. In the last decade or so, a reliable and profitable transportation infrastructure is being established that includes large refrigeration facilities. Well-equipped barges can navigate the river deep into the jungle collecting the harvest.
Barges equipped with such facilities where certain processing stages were carried out and transported to cities near the Amazon River. One of the most effective ways is to freeze the fruit in large blocks and send it to different destinations. Why frozen flash? This is the only and most effective way for the fruit to maintain all its benefits and nutritional values.
The power of Acai
As reported in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, a study showing extracts from Acai berries triggered a self-destruct response in more than 86 percent of the leukemic cells tested.
This study was one of the first of its kind conducted by the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to show what people can gain from the use of beverages, dietary supplements made from berries. There are many such reports on different health benefits. Therefore, there is no better reason for distributors and companies to be eager to use the advantage of the Acai name.
Not all Acai products are the same
The label doesn’t say it all. On the label it may say it includes Acai, but how much does it contain? Also, was it preserved the way it should have been? Therefore, not all Acai products shown on the labels are the same, nor do they contain the correct amount to have the effect it should have. The way this berry is preserved and processed can have a dramatic effect on its overall quality.
Many labels of the listed products include Acai, but most have only a fraction of the amount of Acai and its antioxidant activity that it should have. Some companies do not understand the importance of all post-harvest processing actions, or are simply trying to save money by cutting corners in the process.
In around the late 1990s, university labs became more advanced in accurately measuring the amounts of specific nutrients in Acai fruits and other foods. Only that the preservation methods are carried out and available, such as lyophilization that contains its nutritional quality.
There are not many leading companies that have researched and follow strict rules and guidelines to preserve and transport this high quality product without losing any of its nutritional value.
Acai berry processing and preservation
The key is that the benefits of the Acai berry are delivered in the most effective and concentrated way. A process of freezing the fresh fruit collected to preserve the nutrients of the fruit that is carried out at a very low heat temperature; This process removes the moisture from the berry – leaving behind pure Acai powder.
Freeze-dried Acai powder, gram for gram, has an ORAC of 1,027, which I discussed in the previous article. That makes it one of the highest of any type of fruit or vegetable.
A product has been found and developed with one of the best health benefits for anyone who wants to take advantage of it. Now, more than ever, people are taking responsibility for their own health and the food they eat. Scientific evidence shows that the most powerful health benefits come from Mother Nature, and using natural foods as medicine is the most logical step.
Public health officials are urging consumers to eat multiple servings of fruits and vegetables every day to get the most important antioxidants. Unfortunately, most people have very little knowledge of what antioxidants are and why they are important.
The other positive step is to change the harvesting process, save the palm trees and protect the Amazon rainforest. It is not only to receive, it is also to give back.
