Organic acerola powder — the whole tropical cherry, freeze-dried and milled. Raw, unsweetened, and one of the most concentrated natural sources of vitamin C on earth.
What acerola is
Malpighia emarginata, the Barbados or West Indian cherry — a small red fruit from a shrub native to the Caribbean and northern South America, and grown commercially in Brazil. It looks like a cherry and is not related to one.
Its distinction is straightforward: the fresh fruit contains somewhere in the region of 1,500 to 1,700 mg of vitamin C per 100 g. An orange contains around 50 mg. Acerola holds roughly thirty times as much, and it is one of the very few foods for which the phrase “extremely high in vitamin C” is a plain statement of fact rather than a marketing line.
Why freeze-dried matters here
Vitamin C is one of the most fragile nutrients there is — destroyed by heat, degraded by light, and lost to oxygen and water. Air-drying or spray-drying a fruit at temperature would remove much of the reason for buying it.
Freeze-drying works at low temperature under vacuum: the fruit is frozen and the ice is drawn off directly as vapour without ever becoming liquid. Almost all of the vitamin C survives, along with the colour and the sharp taste. It is the expensive way to dry fruit, and for acerola it is the only one that makes sense — which is a large part of why this powder costs what it does.
What we can legitimately claim
Because vitamin C is a nutrient with authorised claims, we can be specific here rather than vague — which is a pleasant change.
Vitamin C contributes to: normal collagen formation for the normal function of blood vessels, bones, cartilage, gums, skin and teeth; normal energy-yielding metabolism; normal functioning of the nervous system; normal psychological function; the normal function of the immune system; the protection of cells from oxidative stress; the reduction of tiredness and fatigue; the regeneration of the reduced form of vitamin E. Vitamin C also increases iron absorption — which is the single most practical thing on this list.
Those claims apply to the vitamin C. They are not claims about acerola having some further property beyond it, and we are not going to imply one.
How to use it
A little goes a very long way. Start with a quarter to half a teaspoon — that is already well beyond a day's requirement.
-
Stirred into a smoothie or juice, where its sharpness is an asset.
-
With an iron-rich meal or an iron supplement — taken at the same time, vitamin C substantially increases absorption of the non-haem iron in beans, lentils, spinach and fortified foods. This is a genuinely useful habit for anyone vegetarian or vegan.
- Sprinkled over yoghurt or porridge.
- Whisked into a dressing, where it behaves as an acid.
Never add it to anything hot. Heat is what destroys vitamin C, and putting this in a hot drink wastes most of it.
Being honest about the cautions
Vitamin C is safe and water-soluble, but it is not without limits.
-
Above about 1,000 mg a day, many people get diarrhoea, wind and stomach cramps. That is the practical ceiling and it is easy to reach with a concentrated powder — measure it rather than eyeballing it.
-
Kidney stones. Excess vitamin C is partly converted to oxalate. If you have had calcium-oxalate kidney stones, keep high-dose vitamin C moderate and ask your doctor.
-
Haemochromatosis and iron overload. Because vitamin C increases iron absorption, high doses are inadvisable if your body already stores too much iron.
-
Blood tests. High-dose vitamin C can interfere with some home blood glucose meters and with faecal occult blood tests. Mention it if either is relevant.
Storage
This is the part people get wrong. Airtight, cold and dark. Vitamin C oxidises on contact with air and humidity, and an open jar in a warm bright kitchen loses potency steadily. Keep it sealed, keep it in the fridge once opened, and close it quickly. If the powder browns, it has oxidised.
Dragon Superfoods
Smart Organic
Iswari
Iswari
