Acai Fruit Legend

For centuries, the Amazon rain forest has been believed to have a plethora of medicines within plants and herbs that could cure most ailments known today.

Scientific evidence has made this legend fact; Buried deep within the South American rain forest, a berry like no other has been revered as Amazonian treasure for hundreds of years. The Acai fruit offers an answer to the stories of old.

The Acai fruit (pronounced Ah-sigh-ee) has been cultivated by the indigenous people of the Amazon rain forest for centuries. It has proven to be a panacea for everything from the common cold to diabetes. New scientific discoveries even link this tiny berry to curing cancer.

There is a legend among the locals of the Amazon region where the Acai fruit grows. Once upon a time, a tribe that had been prosperous for centuries faced extinction because of the threat of famine. The price became so great that the leader of the tribe, whose name was Itaki, made a decree that all firstborn children were to be sacrificed.

Unbeknown at the time to Itaki, declaration would even infiltrate his own family. He discovered that his own daughter, Laca, was about to give birth, so she to would have to sacrifice her firstborn child.

The daughter became so depressed that she refused any food or drink and locked herself in the room. After several days and nights of no food, the daughter became delusional and began to hear her baby’s cry. She ran out of the room and began to make her way to a palm tree where she thought she saw her child

The next morning, the tribe descended to this palm tree and discovered the dead body of the tribal chiefs daughter. As they looked up at the palm tree, they noticed clumps of blue berries, which later became known as acai berries.

This single berry not only saved the tribe from hunger, but was instrumental in this tribe’s economic growth. The people of Belem — the state in Brazil where the Acai fruit is harvested — are said to be the descendants of this same tribe.

This fruit has proven to be a god send to the people as this tiny city still survives off of the mighty acai fruit of Brazil