Outside of Brazil, the closest you can get to whole berries is an Acai Puree. Separating the flesh of the berries from the seed and macerating it to a pulp is the first step all manufacturers take after harvesting. At this point, the resulting Puree retains nearly all the nutritional benefits of the whole berries. Briefly heating the Puree and “hot bottling” or “flash pasteurizing” preserves all of the fiber, Omega 3,6, and 9 fats, and most of the antioxidents. The glass bottles required for this method do add to the cost, but have the added benefit on not leeching like all plastic bottles do. The two brands listed below use this method to produce their Purees.
The problem with such a Puree is, it will not keep for 12 to 18 months in warehouses and on store shelves. So it is generally not available in supermarkets. Also, it is more expensive, so if you purchase it online, expect to pay more for Acai Puree than for an Acai Juice.
To fulfill the storage requirements of the large conglomerates that stock the shelves of your local supermarket, manufacturers must process the puree further. They either “clarify” it, by straining out the pulp. Or, they freeze-dry the puree to powder, then “reconstitute†it by adding water. This product is very stable and can even be called 100% Acai Juice, no matter how much water they add when reconstituting it. But it has almost none of the good omega fats and fiber, and much less of the antioxidents than Acai Puree. Then, to make more money, these mega brands often mix the juice with less expensive fruit juices. They end up with 10-20% acai in the finished product.
Now you should understand that there is a huge difference between an Acai Berry Puree, and the cheap supermarket variety of juices, or Monavie
Acai Functional Fusion Purees
There are also some exciting new products based on purees, that combine multi-functional nutritional extracts to better target some of the specific benefits of Acai Berry such as immune support, stress management, enhanced energy and endurance, blood glucose support, weight management, anti-aging, cognitive function and cardiovascular health. Some of these new Acai Functional Fusions are:
Acai Juice brands
Monavie
Monavie is heavily promoted by a strong MLM network. Each bottle of Monavie sells for around $40. And since it is not really Acai Juice, but a blend with 18 other, much less expensive juices, they have $20 left over to distribute to the people involved in pushing the product. I will admit that it does taste good. And apparently there are people with plenty of money out there that don’t mind spending a whole lot for very little health benefit. So, if you want a pretty bottle and some nice tasting juice for $40 a bottle, Monavie might be ok for you.
Supermarket brand Acai Juices
In general, supermarkets do not stock the best quality Acai Products, as they are forced to compete on price rather than quality. The big name brands that you get at your local supermarket are all clarified juices, that are very watered down and usually mixed with other juices. They typically have just 10-20% actual Acai Berry in the final product. However, they can still be a good healthy product and are inexpensive. Just realize what you are getting. Of the brands commonly found at supermarkets, the best quality is:
Sambazon
The Original Blend contains a mixture of: Organic Acai Puree, organic agave, organic lime juice and contains less than 0.5% of organic natural flavors, organic soy lecithin and citric acid. Although this product uses some puree, and therefore retains some acai omega fatty acids, amino acids and fiber, it is watered down quite a bit and contains less than 20% acai berry in the final product. They have several different flavors that are mixed with different fruit juices.
Bossa Nova
The Original Flavor contains a mixture of: Wild-harvested Acai Juice, Organic Agave Nectar, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid. This is a clarified juice, so is lacking important acai nutrients such as omega fatty acids, protein (amino acids) and fiber. But it is not mixed with other juices, other than the Agave Nectar used as a sweetener. It is also less watered down than most supermarket brands, and tastes very nice!
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