Acai: Superfood of the Amazon: This tropical berry has been a dietary staple for much of Brazil long before its health benefits were extolled world-wide.

It's three thirty in the morning, pitch black, and overcast outdoors, but activity at Belem's Feira do Açaí adjacent to the Pará River is nonstop and has been for at least an hour. A line of cargadores unload thousands of baskets full of the dark, ripe berry from docked riverboats. Buyers are perusing the constantly changing displays, quickly deciding whether to purchase the product. The day's berries are mostly from the Macapá ama, on the north bank of the Amazon River and some distance away. Many of the berries are packed in ice, an effort to prolong their viability and a practice that elicits disparaging comments from my knowledgeable companion and some buyers. Hands are constantly reaching into the basket from all sides to snatch a berry; sample tasting seems almost reflexive among those at the Feira. Locals in the business say they can distinguish regional differences in flavor, much as oenophiles distinguish boutique wines, and they know from looking whet, her berries are of good quality. One commented that he would not be buying fruit that morning; the berries were "ruim ," unacceptable.

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Timing is of the essence in the açaí trade, for the berry is highly perishable once it has been picked. Ideally only 24 to 36 hours elapses between harvest of the palm infructescence and its consumption as a bowl of thick cold purée. Similar but much smaller açaí markets operate in several smaller cities along the estuary, and elsewhere in Belém, but the Feira sets the price for the lower Amazon region. My recent visit was during the wet season--the off-season for açaí production--but the fruit is marketed and consumed locally every day of the year. There is far less product in the rainy season, and even though overall berry quality is lower, prices soar. On the five days I followed the market, prices per fourteen-kilo basket varied from 30 reais (US$17) to 70 reais (US$41). Thick wads of money exchanged hands quickly as virtually all açaí purchases, whether they are made by middlemen, retailers, or consumers, are on a cash-only basis. If the berries are good--small, dark, and firm--they go fast. By 8:30 am, the market is over for the day. Only a few baskets remain and they will be sold at a lower price.

Local retailers cart or truck the berries, which have been poured into large polypropylene sacks, to their shops. Hundreds of such shops are found in Belém, a city of more than two million people. There is one shop on almost every block, and often more. Most are little more than a small room with a sink opening onto a street or alley. There, the berries are soaked to soften the edible rind that encases the seed. Then an operator stands before an elongated metal batedor (blender) into which he pours a batch of berries and a small amount of water. The blender quickly pulverizes the pulp...