Acai Puree from Amafruits is the purple in your nutrition rainbow!

Growing up, my mom was always watching her weight.  She tried an assortment of programs that had her counting calories, measuring things, and eating premade meals.  I have never been a fan of fad diets and I think the best nutrition advice I have ever received was the very basic idea that you should eat a rainbow of colors every day.  Nothing fancy…no math, measuring or fancy foods needed.  All you need to do is make sure you find something of every color to eat on a daily basis.  You may think this is difficult but there are a lot of ways to incorporate fruits and veggies into your diet without eating a giant pile of….well, plain fruits and veggies!  Make carrots into muffins for orange, serve zucchini fritters for dinner for green and add ingredients like Amafruits acai puree to a breakfast smoothie for a big dose of purple!  Haven’t heard of Amafruits?  Here is a little bit about this company from their website:

Amafruits was established to bring authentic Brazilian-style açaí to our friends and family and has quickly expanded. True nutritional power and the premium flavor of our hand-picked, wild-grown açaí are delivered straight to you from the Amazon in convenient frozen packs. Each Amafruits açaí pack helps preserve a piece of our treasured Amazon Rainforest, “the lungs of our planet,” through fair trade practices that provide the economic incentive to those in the Amazon to protect the native environment for sustainable harvesting instead of clear-cutting rainforest for the value of wood or other destructive land uses.

So, what exactly is an acai berry?  It is a very nutritious palm berry that grows on a tall, thin palm in the Amazon flood plains.  These trees can reach heights of up to 80 feet tall!  The acai berries grow in clusters on the palm tree and each one resembles a large blueberry, however the açaí berry is approximately 95% seed with only a thin oily skin.  This dark purple skin has tremendous health properties and has been used by Amazon natives for centuries. It is impossible to eat the actual acai berry as it is and instead it requires processing into a puree.  Once processed, the puree is then flash pasteurized and frozen to seal in nutrients.  The acai berry is considered a ‘superfruit’ and is very high in antioxidants and an assortment of vitamins and minerals. It is also a great source of Omega fatty acids.

Amafruits offers two different acai purees: the Açaí Pure & Unsweetened and the Açaí Energy Mix with Guarana.   These products are organic and processed from wild fruit that is harvested in an ethical and sustainable manner.  The purees are free of all allergens and will stay fresh in your freezer for several years.  The farmers that harvest these berries are provided with fair compensation and a part of Amafruits’ proceeds is dedicated to educational and environmental projects in the Amazon.

 Amafruits acai smoothie

I received a cooler full of both the Acai Pure and Unsweeted and the Acai Energy Mix with Guarana to try out.  Amafruits has a whole section of their website dedicated to acai recipes if you aren’t sure what to do with this.  The first thing I did was make some into a healthy breakfast smoothie.  I used 2 packs of the Acai  Energy Mix with Guarana along with some lowfat vanilla yogurt, organic orange juice and flax seed oil.  It made enough smoothie for my myself and both kids to enjoy and it was delicious.  Lightly sweet and fruity and I was happy knowing my kids got a healthy breakfast before heading off to school.  It was a great start to our day and very easy to make.

My opinion: I was really impressed with how quickly these packs of acai puree thawed.  They come as 14 ounce (400g) resealable bags with four (100g) individual serving sized pouches inside.  Just a quick run under warm water and a little bit of massaging and it was good to put into my smoothie.  The other thing I noticed was how totally smooth this puree is.  Normally when I put some sort of fruit in my smoothie I end up with bits of stuff throughout my drink.  The smoothie with the acai puree, however, was totally and completely smooth…as a good smoothie should be!

As for flavor, if you have ever had a drink with acai juice in it, there is a very similar taste only it is more intense because it is completely pure acai that is not diluted with any other fruit.  It tastes sortof like a combination of dark berry (blackberry?) with a tartness and richness that are very unique. The Acai Energy Mix with Guarana is sweetened with just a touch of guaraná syrup so it is a touch sweeter than the pure acai puree but you could use the  Acai Pure and Unsweeted without adding any sweetener to it…it is just a tad bit more tart.  If you are looking for a tasty way to eat healthier I highly recommend trying Amafruits acai purees!

This acai puree can be used in a lot of different ways…deserts, salad dressing and even an acai superfruit cocktail! 

If you want to learn more about Amafruits you can follow them on Facebook.

Disclaimer: In accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials.”: I received product samples in exchange for my honest review. I received no monetary compensation. All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone. Some of the links in this post may be “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.