Acai, from the palm to your plate

Acai, the little berry with a multitude of benefits, is one of the most highly prized superfoods for its nutritional virtues. But before you enjoy a delicious acai bowl, have you ever thought about this berry's journey from the palm trees of the Amazon to your plate? At Nossa, we're proud to produce acai pulp that respects the environment and local communities. In this article, we take you on a journey through the entire acai pulp production process, from harvesting the fruit to transforming it into a rich, creamy puree, ready to be enjoyed.

Discover how Nossa acai pulp is produced!

1. Picking (Colheita)

Acai berries grow in bunches on palm trees, between 2 and 10m above the ground. To harvest them, pickers use a pole or climb trees. To climb trees, acai growers need only a piece of rope connecting their feet.

In the past, these pieces of rope were made from acai leaves turned on themselves and then knotted in a circle. This tool is called a "peconha", which gives its name to the acai picker, the "peconheiro".

 

 

2. Égrainge (Debulha)

The berries are then removed from the bunches. This is done by hand (ideally with gloves to protect the hands) or with a comb. Then...

 

 

3. Tri (Seeção)

...the berries are sorted by hand to recover only the ripest before being transported to the factory.

 

 

4. Washing (Lavagem) 

Once harvested, the berries first pass through a blower, which expels the small branches and leaves. They are then washed with water. As our pulps are certified organic, no chemicals are used (unlike non-organic berries, which are washed with chlorine).

 

 

5. Soaking (Amolhecimento)

The berries are immersed in water for 30 minutes to soften them and facilitate extraction of the pulp.

6. Pulp extraction (Despolpamento)

The fruit is pulped within 24 to 48 hours of harvesting, to preserve all its taste and nutritional qualities. The fruit falls into a stainless steel pulping machine, into which water is added - an essential ingredient for successfully removing the thin layer of flesh covering the stone. A beater rubs the fruit and extracts the flesh. The pits are ejected through a trapdoor, and the pulp is stored in a vat where a sample is taken to check pulp quality in the laboratory.

 

 

 7. Pasteurization

The pulp then undergoes flash pasteurization, a heat treatment that destroys bacteria and renders the product safe for consumption. The pulp is heated to 80°C for 30 seconds, then immediately cooled to preserve acai's nutritional characteristics. The pulp contains all the fiber, minerals, omegas and antioxidant capacity of acai!

8. and 9. Packaging and freezing

Finally, the pulp is packaged in a variety of formats (from 100 g pods to 180 kg drums...) and frozen immediately to preserve acai's organoleptic and nutritional characteristics.

 

 

10. Shipping

We ship the acai pulp to France and to our partner factories.

Acai is an exotic fruit that grows only in tropical climates, like bananas, coffee and cocoa. To limit its carbon footprint, Nossa! uses only sea transport and does not use air transport. Sea transport emits far fewer greenhouse gases. For example, importing a 24,000 kg container of acai emits 2 times less CO2 than a one-way trip from Paris to Rio for one person!

Agroforestry production of acai also helps preserve the Amazon rainforest and the carbon it stores. Each hectare of Amazon rainforest stores around 250 tonnes of carbon, equivalent to the emissions linked to importing 4.7 million kg of acai!

For most foods, it's not transport that has the biggest ecological impact, but production (fertilizers, pesticides, the use of machinery to plough, process and pick, or heated greenhouses). At Nossa! all harvesting is done by hand, without the use of fertilizers or pesticides, and therefore emits no greenhouse gases.

We have therefore chosen this mode of transport in line with our values and our desire to protect the environment.

OUR STANDARDS

• We guarantee total traceability from the picking area.
• Our acai is certified organic, and part of our production is Fair Trade certified (Fair for Life standard). 100% of our acai is picked in the forest, in plots tended according to an agroforestry model.

• Our acai is selected for its taste, color and smell. We pulp the fruit within 24 to 48 hours of harvesting to preserve all its taste and nutritional qualities.

• The factories we work with meet the highest standards of quality and food safety (FSSC 22000 or IFS certification).

Choosing Nossa acai means working with a healthy, premium product while doing your bit for the Amazon and its peoples.