An Amazonian fruit has been conquering the world: what is its origin?

Pure, sweetened with guarana, fruit or granola, açaí is a fruit of Amazonian origin that in recent decades has jumped from the Brazilian table to the counters of the world.

What is it and where does it grow?

The tree of açaíalso called açaí or açaízeiro, is a palm tree native to the Amazon region that can exceed 20 meters in height.

Its fruits, small black berries with a fine pulp, are extracted manually by the producers, who climb the palm trees to cut the clusters when the fruit is ripe.

The vast majority of production comes from flood-prone areas of the amazonwhere he açaí It is native, but there are also plantations on the mainland.

In the past, the palm trees only bore fruit during the harvest (from August to January), but the improvement of agricultural techniques has made it possible to maintain a certain volume of production for the rest of the year.

Brazil is the world’s leading producer of açaí and more than 90% of production comes from the northern state of Pará.

In 2021, Pará produced almost 1.4 million tons of açaíwhich moved more than 5,000 million reais in the local economy (USD 1,000 million at the current exchange rate), according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics.

The exports of açaí-derived products have grown exponentially in recent years: they went from just 60 kg in 1999 to more than 15,000 tons in 2021, according to estimates by the Pará government based on foreign trade data.- The main importers are United States, Japan, Australia and European countries.

From pulp to shampoo

In Pará, the açaí is part of the diet of the localswho eat it in bowls together with lunch and dinner, often thickened with cassava flour.- In addition to its gastronomic use, the açaí is an input for cosmetics such as moisturizing lotions, shampooetc., and their seeds are reused for handicrafts.