If you want real acai berries then you will have to go to the Brazilian rain forest Seriously. Once harvested the fruit degrades so quickly that distributors cannot get it out of Brazil without some pre-processing (or freezing) which turns it into a different product. If you’re really interested in getting as much acai as possible then you should move to the areas where they harvest the acai fruit: these people take in acai fruit comprising around 42% of their food by weight. Wow.

One of the better ways to get the acai to your grocery bag is with acai preserves. Acai preserves really are just what they sound like, and you would make them in same way that you would make strawberry or raspberry jam. And like with strawberries and raspberries, the more the better; so it is with acai preserves which contain up to 99% of their volume as acai fruit.

Pretty impressive by any standard, but phenomenal when you compare it to the alternatives which can be pills and powders said to contain acai. I would much rather have the real thing in front of me.

The good thing about the very simple way in which acai preserves are made is that the minimal processing means maximum retention of all the goodness and nutrients in the acai.