This small, purple fruit, growing on top of a palm tree of the same name, is perhaps the most famous fruit in South America over the last few years. However, not many people know where its name comes from or why Açaí means “the fruit that cries” in Tupi dialect. 

The story begins with the famine suffered by the tribe of the chieftain Itaki, who, witnessing how his people perished, consulted the tribal council to save them. The augury was unanimous, he must give up his granddaughter, the daughter of Iaça. As a man of his word, he did so, but the grief-stricken mother went to look for her child in the middle of the night, only to find the child turned into a palm tree. 

The mother wept all night and the next morning, she was united with her daughter, showing a serene face as the palm tree was filled with fruit that the tribe transformed into wine and saved the remaining thousands of lives. The fruit that weeps, honors the iaça sacrifice, inverting its name and giving birth to a prodigious fruit in every way.