story cover
Berr y heal
Thanks to Sambazon, açaí berries benefit
consumers and
growers
By David W. Fuller
aAs you read this, young men in Rio Maniva, a village strung along
the steamy northern bank of the
Brazilian Amazon, are climbing
40-foot palm trees, machetes looped
in their belts, to chop broom-like
fronds containing açaí berries.
Within hours, baskets of these
berries will be picked up by small
boats and sent upriver by Sambazon,
a unique company that will process
COURTESY OF SAMBAZON
them the same day into many of the
açaí products sold at Costco.
Between that scramble up the
palm tree and the purchase at
Costco lies quite a story.
