AcaiMania

Hi, I am new here. I hope everyone will be patient with my Acai obsession. I really love tropical gardening and talking about plants.

Bob

Welcome Acaimania. I'm sure you'll find others here who share your interest.

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lorax

Welcome aboard! This may sound odd to you, but where I live Acai are sometimes considered weeds!

Richard

Welcome to the Org!

Cabbage Palms are beautiful, especially along river banks, etc. The Acai berry is enjoying a tidal wave of health food craze much like the pomegranate, although there are plenty of other fruits, veggies, and herbs that are more healthful and more efficient in terms of water usage, production efficiency, etc.

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

Tog Tan

Hi AcaiMania and welcome to the board! Talking about acai palms I have 20 of the Para Dwarf going and hope to harvest in 3 years time!

Hey Lorax, btw, how does Acai juice taste like? You got some recipe or preparation notes? I was so curious about this that I ordered a bunch of the seeds and they all germinated without any fuss. Thanks.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

lorax

Tog - it depends on your personal palate how Acai tastes; I experience it as a pleasant sweet-and-sour sensation, and my mother only tastes the sweet flavour, and I have friends who insist it is so bitter that they will not eat it... I have eaten both green and purple Acai; the purple variety, which escapes regularly from heart-of-palm plantations here, is superior.

You prepare the pulp in the same way you would pulp a Lychee or Rambutan, bearing in mind that an Acai berry is more stone than flesh. It's excellent just out-of-hand as a refreshing snack, or you can juice it. The berries are so high-fat, though, that they spoil easily in the heat, so you need to either eat or juice everything you pick that day. Brazilians eat the pulp with a bit of granola sprinkled in; Ecuadoreans use it more as a juice or ice cream flavour. One company here is experimenting with how to make Acai liquor - I'm very curious to see the result.

Once you get a crop, Tog, I'll send you the recipe for traditional Ecuadorean copper-bowl ice cream. Acai is an excellent flavour for this.

mskitty38583

welcome welcome welcome

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WELCOME TO THE GATOR NATION

AcaiMania

Thank you all for your kind responses. I think I have found a forum with freindly gardeners-feels good.

I bought some acai palms from a grower in Florida. They are about 8' tall now and suckering at the base. I have already harvested five crops from some. The berries are really purple; easy to stain your clothes. They taste delicious, not metalic like the frozen stuff we get from Brazil.

I heard that the USDA won't let fresh acai be impoted from Brazil because of chagas disease. Lorax, does Ecuador have a chagas disease problem too?

lorax

It's mild here, not so severe as what Brazil has. I think our altitude limits it.

adrift

Can you tell us who? Some of us Floridians may be looking to get a few...

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I've got to stop asking people, "How stupid can you be." People are taking it as a challenge.

sunfish

I be trying to grow a couple Acai palms.Houseplants in winter outside the rest of the time whoohoo

Dreaminofthetropics

Hello and welcome :-) Each of has our own obsession no being patient about it ! Plant obsessions are a good obsession not a bad one! Hope you enjoy the site!