Acai berries are harvested from the acai palm, a tree that is indigenous to the swamps and low lying ground of the Amazon Basin. It’s a tree that grows in the rain forest, where it has been supplying food to the native tribes in the area for generations. One report on the local use of acai berries indicated that one of the tribes who harvested and used the acai in food preparation had a diet that was 40% acai by weight.
The tree grows to a height of between fifty and one hundred feet. It has leaves that are similar to the fronds of other palm species which can be up to nine feet in length. The berries are about one inch in diameter, their skin colored a deep purple when ripe. There is a single large seed within the berry, making up about 80% of the body, which means that the food value of the berry is extracted from the pulp and skin surrounding the seed.
Acai food products are popular in South American and a standard feature in restaurants. The fruit and its juice are sold in markets and put to multiple uses. For that reason, as well as the export market, acai berries are actively harvested. A tree that is actively picked will grow two sets of berries per year.
The leaves of the tree are used for weaving baskets and for roofing huts. The seeds extracted from acai berries can be ground up and used for organic soil mix or for livestock feed. The trunk of the tree can be sawn and used for construction.