Açaí

Euterpe oleracea · Berry

40 pairings

Açaí is the small, dark-purple drupe of the açaí palm (Euterpe oleracea), a tall, slender palm of the Amazon floodplains. Each fruit is almost all seed, surrounded by a thin layer of oily, low-sugar pulp that is scraped off and beaten into a thick, earthy purée — a Brazilian dietary staple long before it became a global "superfood."

Picking a good onedrag

Bloomed black-purple, hard, dryDull, weeping, winey-sour

Market freshThe standard basket, same rule: wash, then pasteurise or cook the pulp. Export pulp is heat-treated already; freezing alone is not the safety step.Everyday best

Skin and bloomPurple-black, the bloom rubbed thin in places

Roll them in your handFirm, a few starting to cling together

Cluster and stalksStalk tips drying, most berries still on

Smell at the basketFaintly earthy, a little sweet-damp

What to look for, from bloomed black-purple, hard, dry to dull, weeping, winey-sour.

Preparing