The Acai berry comes from a palm tree that is grown in Northern Brazil. The native translation of Acai means ‘fruit that cries’. For hundreds of years the Acai tree has been a part of Brazilian culture and folklore as well as providing a berry with bountiful health benefits.
There is a legend among the Amazon people that a tribal chief had a lovely daughter named Iaca. His tribe had grown quite large, and his people barely had food to eat. Seeing no other option for the time, the chief declared that all newborn infants must be killed. The chief did not even spare his own grandchild.
Iaca was so heartbroken that she retreated to her hut in isolation for days. In her intense grief, she thought she heard the cry of a baby, and emerged from her hut to go in search for it. When she went outside, she found a palm tree springing forth from the earth, covered in a bounty of berries. Iaca was so distraught at not finding a child that she lay down beneath the tree and died of a broken heart. Her body was found the next day beneath the tree.
The fruit of the tree satisfied the hunger of the tribe and renewed their energy. In honor of his lost daughter, the tribal chief lifted the decree killing all the infant children in the tribe and decided that this life giving fruit should bear the name of his languished daughter, so he named it by spelling her name backwards Acai. The tribe then began to flourish with this new energy source.
Acai has been eaten on a daily basis for hundreds of years by Brazilians. In the 1950′s, medical professionals began to recognize the healthful benefits of the palm fruit. In the 1960′s, the berry was endorsed by the famous Gracie jiu-jitsu family. Recently several medical studies in the United States have documented the health benefits of Acai. The berry is one of the best sources of antioxidants and has been shown to fight cancer- causing cells, as well as have beneficia
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