Recipe
Açaí na tigela — açaí bowl
- Herb:
- Açaí palm Euterpe oleracea
- Method:
- Culinary use
- Plant part:
- Fruit
About 10 minBeginnerRecipe science profile
Procedure
- Let frozen açaí pulp soften for 5 minutes and break into chunks.
- Blend with half a frozen banana and a spoon of water or juice to the consistency of a thick sorbet; do not blend long or it thins.
- Turn into a bowl and top with granola, banana slices and fruit.
- Serve at once; in Pará açaí is also eaten unsweetened with manioc flour and fish.
Extraction
- Herb:
- 200 g of frozen pasteurised açaí pulp per portion
- Solvent:
- no extraction — blending with a little liquid or banana
- Shelf life:
- eat immediately
- Target compounds:
- anthocyanins (cyanidin-3-glucoside), fat similar to olive oil and fibre remain in the pulp
Notes
Use frozen pasteurised pulp. In Brazil unpasteurised home-made pulp has caused outbreaks of Chagas disease (Nóbrega et al. 2009). Sweet versions with guaraná syrup and granola are a calorie-dense dessert, not a 'superfood'.
Why it works
Açaí pulp contains anthocyanins, fat dominated by oleic acid and fibre; Yamaguchi's review summarises laboratory antioxidant data, human clinical studies are few. Pasteurisation (85 °C) kills Trypanosoma cruzi, which gets into the pulp from crushed triatomine bugs — hence never 'fresh from the street' in endemic areas.
Literature
- Yamaguchi KKL, Pereira LFR, Lamarão CV, Lima ES, da Veiga-Junior VF (2015): Amazon acai: Chemistry and biological activities: A review. Food Chem 179:137–151 — Review of composition and laboratory data; very few clinical studies.
- Nóbrega AA et al. (2009): Oral Transmission of Chagas Disease by Consumption of Açaí Palm Fruit, Brazil. Emerg Infect Dis 15:653–655 — Why only pasteurised pulp.
Related
Açaí palm — Herb card
Culinary use — Processing method detail