Acai Health Watch

Natural remedy expert Chris Kilham shared his experiences visiting an area of the Brazilian Amazon forest where acai is grown sustainably.  He agrees that the acai berry is a delicious and healthy food, but is even more impressed that parts of the acai industry are working to preserve the Amazon rainforest.   Sambazon Acai, lead by Ryan Black, has been influential in sustainable acai berry harvesting.

“Our wildharvesting system was developed in conjunction with the Forest Sustainability Council,” Ryan explains. “We’ve taught people how to wildharvestacai, and protect the forest at the same time.” Through ecologically sound agro-forestry management practices, Sambazon has established a top-notch conservation program that protects the Amazon rainforest and minimizes habitat loss.  On top of that, they’ve implemented a fair wage system that provides higher than average wages to over ten thousand familiesin Brazil’s Amapa state. Sambazon has won praise and support from World Wildlife Federation, The Nature Conservancy and Greenpeace. As far as Ryan is concerned, it’s all just a reasonable and fair way to operate a business. “Might as well do it right if you’re going to do it,” he comments.”

Super Acai Benefits « FOX News Health Blog « FOXNews.com.

We’ve been hearing about U.S. based growers selling baby (i.e. 2 year old) acai trees for consumers to raise at home.  We love the idea, in that fresh acai berries are nearly impossible to come by.  But is this feasible in all climates?  What about people with no plant-growing intuition whatsoever?

We came across Acai Farms, that raises tens of thousands of acai trees for this very purpose.  Their acai palm trees are grown organically – pesticide and toxin free, and we certainly like that.   We’ve had the pleasure of visiting palm plantations and seeing acai berry palms growing in the wild, and they are wonderfully majestic trees.  They also produce hearts of palm, which are incredibly delicious and nothing like what you’ll find in a can.

Here’s what Acai Farms says about the acai palm tree growing process:

“Anyone can grow Acai Trees and have all the nutritional benefits of fresh Acai fruit anywhere in the country. Areas free of frost can grow Acai Trees outside with a few precautions. People living in other areas will need a greenhouse to provide the optimum conditions for their Acai Trees to flourish.  The Acai Trees will thrive under the right conditions and can tolerate cold temperatures down to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.”