If you have a couple minutes available to read this, then I can tell you about the history of a tiny, purple berry that has revolutionized the way people stay healthy around the world. Continue reading to learn how acai berry came to be, and what makes it such a popular health food for millions of people around the world.

There was a time, not too long ago, that it was impossible to reap the benefits of acai berry unless you ate it fresh in the only place it grows - the Amazon rainforest. This is because the acai berry is a fruit that spoils very quickly after being picked. Luckily, over the years, the power of acai was captured in powdered form, giving the world at large access to all the benefits the berry has to offer.

Early Uses of Acai Berry

Before scientists studied the fruit, natives in Brazil knew about the powers of acai to help people stay healthy. Written history has no record of the first person to pluck one of the berries from the small palm tree and eat it, but someone did. And eventually someone started eating it a lot. Over the years, it became common knowledge that if you ate acai every day, you generally led a healthy and happy life. Because the acai fruit spoils so quickly after picking, it never really made it far beyond the jungle where it was originally found. This continued for many, many years.

Modern Acai Berry

Eventually, as Brazil began to modernize, scientists began to backup claims made by the natives about the acai berry. Its health benefits soon became scientific fact as well as local folklore. At this point, people began to develop new ways to get acai beyond the limited area where it grows. Branching first to Rio, over the last half of the 20th century, businessmen and health enthusiasts developed ways for the acai pulp to be ground into a powdered form. From here, it was easy to add to nutritional supplements, health drinks, smoothies, and many other products. The acai craze began.

For a long time, the acai berry was stuck in the region Brazil, unable to be transported to other areas without spoiling. However once new preservation techniques were used, such as freezing and freeze-drying, the acai berry began to go all over the world. An effective method of transporting it was to use extract of the acai pulp. This pulp could then be used to make a variety of products, from supplements to drinks.

In recent years, word of acai berry spread like wildfire. Unfortunately, a lot of people jumped on the bandwagon and started creating cheap acai products. (A lot of these use the acai skin in the process, which isn't as beneficial.) There are still many reputable brands that have been doing business for quite a few years, though, so there's no worry about being able to still find great acai deals. As a buyer, you should still be cautious when buying acai products, as many products out there simply don’t work as promised. If you find a reputable company, it's good to stick with them for your monthly supply, because once you start taking acai, you won't want to stop.

The Future of Acai Berry

What will acai accomplish next? No one can really tell. Rest assured that scientists and researchers are looking into ways to get even more out of this wonderful berry. And with the history of acai berry, you almost know there are going to be more interesting discoveries made about its use and its effect on the human body. There are already plans from big-name companies to put out there on acai flavored products. So, keep an eye out when you go the grocery store for any new acai items. Will acai be around forever? As long as humans are around most likely.