by Paige Donner
Each and every year in Brazil the population awaits its annual açai berry harvest with bated breath. It's akin to the yearly Beaujolais harvest in France. A time of year filled with celebration and abundance.
The açai berry has been inching its way into the North American mainstream for at least a decade now. Hailed as a little berry packing a powerfully healthy punch, we first welcomed it in smoothies and nutrition bars.
Indeed some of the properties of the mythical açai berry are :
- Health tonic elixir
- Anti-oxidant
- Anti-inflammatory
- Sweet, Fruit and Fragrant
Health Properties Of The Açai Berry
For centuries this berry has been used for its health properties by the local Abaetetuba community in the northern Brazilian state of Pará.
The whole of Brazil has embraced the açai berry since many decades for more than its medicinal uses, however. Indeed the culture celebrates the annual harvest by making candies, sweets, and other delicacies out of the dark purple, pulpy and fruity berry.
Its deep purple color are indicative of the berry's rich anti-oxidant properties. And if you've never tasted açai before, the flavor pyramid to expect is : red fruits such as raspberry and wild strawberry giving way to wood berries like blackberries and blueberries ending on a final note of sandal wood and light, aromatic woods.
Natura Brasil's EKOS Açai Body Care Line
For its EKOS Açai line of body care products, Natura Brasil works with the Cofruta Community, a co-op based in the Pará state of Brazil, who does the bulk of the annual berry harvest.
COFRUTA = Fruit Growers Co-operative of Abaetetuba
This is the co-operative, who in their native Amazonian forest, produces and harvests 95% of the total Brazilian açai berry crop each year. The co-op is made up of several hundred families. The açai berries they harvest are certified organic and along with Natura Brasil, working with them for several decades now, they have developed a sustainable harvesting method. The co-op even produces their own açai berry syrups and jams now in a factory they built in their native Amazonian forest in 2002.
Products from Natura Brasil made from the açai berry harvest are released in limited edition quantities each year. They include :
Triphasée Shower Oil – this fruity and light oil goes on fresh all over your body on still moist, just showered skin. It contains oil pressed directly from the organic açai berry, thus containing concentrated amounts of pure anti-oxidant properties. A fresh, fruity, fragrant scent.
Frescor – the eau de toilette made from organic alcohol and essential oil extracts from the fresh açai berry harvest.
Hand Cream and Body Lotion - These products each give 24hours and 30 hours respectively of skin hydration as well as offering anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant protection.
For more information about these products and the sustainable harvest program that Natura Brasil has institituted with the native Amazonian COFRUTA community in Brazil, go to NaturaBrasil.com.
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