açaí

There are many wonderful foods appearing these days that boast whopping nutritional credentials. Right up there with the best of 'em is our friend açaí (pronounced "asa-eee") which sports a fantastic dark purple colour which is often an indicator of nutritional goodies inside. In fact, it has been touted as the number one fruit for antioxidants, leaving popular contenders like blueberries and pomegranates in the dust.

Açaí berries grow in the wilds of the Amazon basin of Brazil on the Açaízeiro palm tree. A curious thing about this berry is that the seed makes up 80% of the fruit and all the goodness is mainly coming from the skin. The açai we use is freeze dried, which is a process that retains all of the nutritional properties as the pulp is reduced to a fine powder at very low temperatures. Nothing is added to the açai which means you're getting the real thing.

All about ORAC

When it comes to antioxidants most researchers measure them as an ORAC value. Research suggests that most people get on average about 1200 ORAC units in the food they eat. However, other research suggests that at least 3000 ORAC units are needed to have a significant impact. The good news is that there's around 490 ORAC units per gram of freeze-dried acai powder and in each Açaí and Blueberry chocolate bar we throw in a good five grams, which means we're all well on the way to our 3000-a-day.

Good to know

Açai's popularity throughout the world has started to curb deforestation as its commercial value has increased. Açai grows in abundance in primary forest (undisturbed forest areas) and so many landowners have realised that harvesting the naturally growing açai fruit is much more profitable than chopping down the forest and farming the land. Consequently açai production has soared and brought valuable work to many impoverished areas whilst maintaining the natural environment of the rainforest.