The promise of a relatively unknown fruit to boost the immune system and add a healthy component to the diet is driving several firms to prepare and market juices and sorbets that carry the unlikely name “açai.”

A palm fruit from the dense rain forests of Brazil, açai (a Portuguese word that is pronounced ‘ah-sigh-ee’), with its dark purple pigment, is loaded with antioxidants, amino acids and essential omega fatty acids.

“If you have never tasted açai before, it’s like biting into a blueberry­ filled with soft, dark chocolate,” says Tom Heffernan, president of Caffe Classico Foods, the East Bay firm that has latched onto the unique Amazon rainforest fruit as the main ingredient in its new line of sorbets.

Heffernan’s firm is one of several marketing new products with açai, just one of the many companies promoting hundreds of new foodstuffs at the annual Fancy Food Show last week in San Francisco’s Moscone Center.

This promising fruit actually looks a lot like a blackish purple grape. But the similarity ends there. It has a big seed and very little pulp. The fruit is found in the largest palm trees on earth, often reaching  over 100 feet. Unlike cherries, which grow individually in trees, the açai berry grows in bunches, more like bananas.

Its biggest selling point, says Heffernan, “is that it contains a remarkable concentration of anthocyanins, the antioxidants in red wine believed to lower the chances of heart disease — although swig for swig, açai contains between 10 and 30 times more. What doesn’t it have? Just the bad things — zero cholesterol and 4 percent fat.”

He pointed out that açai is a hot item as well in Rio de Janeiro at present, as the juice bars are doing a rip-roaring trade.

“It’s an antioxidant powerhouse that blows even blueberries and pomegranates out of the water,” he added. “Fitness-conscious people love açai for its energy-sustaining properties. The first time I tried it was the açai smoothie at Jamba Juice. I think I was awake for four straight days.”

For a time, açai was added to smoothies and drinks. Now you can purchase the juice, and Heffernan’s firm uses it as a base for sorbet.

Belizza Açai sorbet comes in four flavors — plain, açai mango, açai banana and pomegranate açai. It retails from $4.39 to $4.99 a pint. Trader Joe’s no longer carries the brand, so those interested in picking up a pint or two will have to travel to the closest Whole Foods store or drop in at Berkeley Bowl next time you’re in the East Bay.

More açai

Sambazon, a southern California firm, is taking the açai fruit one step further. It not only markets açai juice and smoothies in 10.5 ounce containers, it offers frozen scoopable açai, smoothie packs and 100 percent açai powder. Some Safeway stores carry the juice and smoothies, while Golden Carrot and Optimum Foods in Napa are both Sambazon retailers.

An even newer firm, O.N.E., has just launched with a pair of products, Amazon Açai juice and Natural Coconut Water, retailing for around $3 and $2 respectively. At present, they are available only at Andronico’s and some small health food stores and specialty markets.

Information about all three açai marketers can be found on the Internet.

Macadamias from Australia?

When we think of tasty cholesterol-free macadamia nuts, images of the Hawaiian islands come to mind. Yet Australia has now surpassed Hawaii in the harvest and sale of macadamia nuts.

Pamela and Martin Brook, proprietors of Brookfarm in the subtropical region of northern New South Wales, were at the recent food show acquainting retailers and macadamia nut lovers with their newest products — three types of Swiss-style muesli, including gluten-free toasted muesli, toasted macadamia muesli and natural macadamia muesli. Just hitting the market are single serving tubs ($2.50-$3), adding to the larger inventory of one pound bags ($8.99). Their muesli contains 17 different ingredients (grains, brans, fruits and nuts) and is absolutely delicious when softened with apple juice, a dollop of yogurt and a couple of spoonfuls of honey.

In addition to selling their oven-roasted macadamias (flavored with just sea salt, or bush pepper spice or Kashmiri chile), the Brooks also market flavorful macadamia nut oil — which has a very high smoke point of 410 degrees, making it ideal for stir frying. Offered in 8.5 ounce bottles, the oil comes in the plain macadamia nut flavor or infused with lemon myrtle or lime and chiles. It retails for around $11.

Locally, Brookfarm products can be found at Dean & DeLuca, Oakville Grocery and Ranch Market.

Valley’s ‘other beverage’

The brainchild of beverage industry veterans Mark Mahoney and Al Williams, Mixerz are all natural cocktail mixers handcrafted in the Napa Valley with fresh fruit juices and cane sugar. Chatting up this new cocktail mixers line at the food show, Mahoney said his goal is to make the line known as “Napa Valley’s other beverage.”

An ideal cocktail starter for home bartenders, Mixerz come in seven flavors at the moment. Both mango and pomegranate offer clean, fresh flavors and are just the thing for putting together cosmopolitans that will dazzle your party guests. Also offered are bloody mary, traditional cosmopolitan, margarita, sour apple and mojito.

Due to hit store shelves any day now, Mixerz will retail for somewhere beyween $8.99 and $10.99 around the country. To check on local placement, give Wine Country Kitchens a call at 252-9463.

South Africa to the rescue

One South Africa firm, Nomu, is marketing a variety of products that are bound to make cooks and foodies a lot happier.

Produced from hand-harvested Madagascar vanilla pods, Nomu Vanilla Bean Paste and Vanilla Bean Extract make using vanilla beans a lot simpler for the home kitchen. You can use a pump dispenser to add vanilla to your next custard or ice cream mix instead of scraping the pods yourself.

Then there’s the Mama Africa range of kosher, all-natural, vegetarian hot sauces and chili relish, ranging from the celebrated Peri-Peri to sweet red pepper and rosemary; sweet and hot chile mint; and lime, mint and coriander.

South Africa’s Cedarberg Mountain is the only place on earth where rooibos (a red needle plant) grows. Usually used for brewing tea, now rooibos flavors a jam — in its natural state, or with the addition of jalapeños.

Just being introduced to West Coast markets, information about these products can be found by inquiring online at info@nomu.co.za.

More noteworthy products

Real Wasabi is marketing dried ground wasabi powder (with a wonderful sweet edge), dressings and sauces from its brand new base in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Restaurants, especially sushi bars, can also order the fresh wasabi rhizome from the new firm. This is wasabi without the intense fire that often turns off Western palates. At the moment, their products are only available in Good Earth and Rainbow markets. To learn more or order online, contact the partners at www.realwasabi.com.

Callison Fine Foods from Seattle is making it easier to add flavor to food with the introduction of Seasoned Skewers, made by infusing wood skewers with essential oils and flavors. Just spike your favorite meat, seafood, poultry or veggies and let the skewers infuse the food with flavor for 10 to 15 minutes prior to cooking. Packages of 20 retail for around $8. Recipes and retail outlets can be found at www.seasonedskewers.com.

Victoria Taylor, founder of Victoria Gourmet in Woburn, Mass., wants to make preparing the evening meal a little easier for the home cook. She’s introduced Roasted Garlic Slices in a jar, providing all the flavor without the time-consuming effort of roasting, peeling and chopping garlic. Her Roasted Garlic Slices make popular roasted garlic mashed potatoes an any-day-of-the-week side dish. If you can’t find the jars in local stores, log online at www.vgourmet.com.

Favorite cooking show host, Paula Deen, that fun Georgia peach, has just introduced a whole line of sauces, dressings and marinades through the Peanut Shop of Williamsburg. Ranging from Moppin’ Sauce to Smokey Apple Cinnamon Sauce, from Merlot Wine Steak Sauce to Vidalia Onion Peach Grilling Marinade, the collection retails for somewhere between $8 and $9. Contact www.thepeanutshop.com to locate the nearest retailer.

Steaz Green Tea Soda comes in ginger ale, cola, key lime, grape, lemon dew and more flavors. Microbrewed from Ceylon green tea and flavored with organic ingredients, Steaz sodas retail for $1.59 at Whole Foods.

Nordic Ware is making it easier to bake desserts at home. The Minneapolis firm has added to its cookware line the new Shortcake Baskets Pan and has expanded its cookie cutter line. Nordic Ware has also expanded  its line of bundt cake mixes. The White House Lemon Bundt and Pumpkin Apple Spice are the newest cake mix flavors, and also new is the Very Chocolate Sugar Cookie mix. And what’s nice about Nordic Ware — you can find its products in just about any shop that carries premium cookware.

Napa Valley’s A Perfect Pear has added to its line — a new pear-fig jam that’s as good for goat cheese appetizers as it is in baked goods, plus a pear-infused olive oil. A Perfect Pear’s products can be found in many area markets, or call 257-6830 to find the closest retailer to you.