Freeze-Dried Acai

You’ve seen the commercials and articles about the benefits of acai. Unfortunately, for people who don’t live in Brazil, getting fresh acai berries is next to impossible. For most of us, the most readily available acai is in powder form. Why can’t we get fresh acai? Acai berries quickly spoil once picked, so they must be processed within 24 hours. The skin and pulp are separated from the pit, then pureed. The puree is then either frozen, or processed immediately thereafter as a powder. The nutrients in acai degrade very quickly, so frozen or powder is your best bet for retaining the most nutritional value. Powder is the most convenient and popular form, but not all acai powder is created equal. So, which powder will give the best nutritional benefit? Hands down, it’s freeze-dried acai powder.

Freeze-Dried Acai: In Search of the Truth

There are other ways of processing acai powder, but they don’t deliver the same nutritional punch that freeze-dried acai powder does. These inferior ways of processing are spray-drying, which involves high heat. Heat kills vital nutrients, so you’re not getting the full benefit of the acai berry. Maltodextrin is also used in the spray-drying process to speed things up, so that ends up in your acai powder, but you probably won’t see it listed on the ingredients. Extraction is also a common process, where chemicals are used to ‘extract’ the essence of acai into its basic components. Often, alcohol is used to make the acai extract, and so the alcohol or other chemical ends up in the product. By contrast, freeze-dried contains nothing but pure acai.

Freeze-Dried Acai: Better than Powder

Freeze-dried acai is better than other powder forms because the process of freeze-drying acai puree removes all of the water without chemicals, heat or fillers. This ensures that all the nutrients remain intact, and you get the best acai powder available.