Açaí

I was busy preparing a breakfast party for 120 people and couldn't write for a while. But now I'm back and writing about this kind of berry we have in Brazil called açaí. Açaí is very popular in the north of Brazil and it’s becoming more popular throughout the country and abroad. As I mentioned on my last post it's been called a superfruit, because of its antioxidant power. The açaí palm is native to tropical Central and South America, from Belize south to Brazil and Peru, growing mainly in floodplains and swamps. The fruit is small, round, black-purple, about 1 inch in diameter, similar in appearance and size to a grape but with less pulp.
I decided to add it to my breakfast menu and it was a hit! I did what we call açaí na tigela, (açaí in a bowl) which is a smoothie made of the frozen pulp mixed with honey and banana, served with granola (400g of the fruit, 2 bananas and honey to taste). This preparation is very caloric and highly energetic, being a practical and effective food to eat in the morning on a busy day, but also very scary for the girls that want to be skinny. The flavor is very different and people would love it or hate it, and you have to try at least 3 times to get used to the taste and begin to like it. That's what happened to me and to a lot of people in that party! For more info on this exotic fruit go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acai.