Açai is truly a remarkable fruit. Growing atop elegant palm trees in the lushest parts of the Amazon rainforest, the açai fruit looks a lot like a blueberry. But, should you go to the Amazon one day, make sure you don’t pop one in your mouth and bite on it - you may break a tooth! Because, far from being a fleshy berry, the açai fruit is a hard, wooden seed covered by a very thin skin.

While açai’s seed isn’t edible (it’s used as fertilizer, fuel and to make beaded jewelry), açai’s thin skin is a nutritional marvel: At the micronutrient level it is packed with powerful antioxidants called anthocyanins. And at the macronutrient level it boasts a virtually perfect composition: plenty of heart-healthy omega fatty acids, a good amount of dietary fiber, a complete amino acids profile but practically no natural sugars! Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Interestingly, some açai palms produce "açai branco", that is, white açai. The fruit actually looks green but the açai made with it has an off-white color. Essentially it is an "albino açai", that is, "normal" açai without the anthocyanins (the pigments that give the fruit its dark purple color).