Common names: Acai-do-baixo Amazonas, Acai-do-para, Acaizeiro, Assai, Palmito acai, Piria

Botanical names: Euterpe oleracea Mart.


Parts Used & Where Grown

Clusters of round, dark purple-to-black, berry-shaped acai fruits are harvested to make juice, ice pops, and herbal supplements. Ethnobotanists have also documented folk medicine uses for the seed oil, fruit rind, and roots. The inner core of the thin trunk of the acai tree is well-known as the source of hearts of palm. Acai is primarily grown in the Para region of the Amazon estuary, in the northern region of Brazil. It also grows in French Guyana, Panama, Ecuador, and Trinidad.




Acai juice is a major dietary component of Brazilian diets, especially in the Para region. It is often eaten at breakfast with cassava meal (manioc) or with tapioca and sugar. The acai fruit is rich in nutrients and is found in many Brazilian prepared foods. The fruit is most popularly used to make juice, but is also found in ice cream, popsicles, and various desserts.

Acai seeds can be crushed to produce a green oil that has been used as a folk remedy for scrofula (a type of tuberculosis). The roasted, crushed seeds, consumed as tea, are a traditional remedy for fever. Tea made from the root is a folk remedy for jaundice and anemia. Tea made from the grated fruit rind has been used topically as a wash for skin ulcers. Boiled preparations of acai root have been used traditionally to treat many diseases, including diabetes, hepatitis, malaria, kidney disease, and dysmenorrhea (menstrual pain).