Before I went to see the much-touted açaí berry growing in the Amazonian rainforest I did a little research stateside to prepare. The so-called superfruit — full of antioxidants and calories — has hit American health food stores and juice bars. Many of the açaí juice bottles sold in the U.S. have pictures of what look to be "natives" in traditional garb. The claims about the berry include promises of weight loss, cancer cures, more energy and better skin.

Reporter Kelley Weiss visits an açaí farm in Brazil. Courtesy/Kelley Weiss/World Vision Update

After roaming the aisles of one natural foods grocer I had a picture of açaí: exotic, mystical and diversely manufactured. But when I met the berry in the Brazilian Amazon, near the city of Macapá, it was raw and wild. A local grower, José Maria, showed me how it's harvested. He positioned a burlap piece between his bare feet and inched up the skinny trunk of a 40 foot açaí palm. Then he pulled a shiny machete out from his waist and chopped off a frond. When José Maria shimmied down and proudly held out the weighty bundle of açaí, he smiled.

Then I noticed that his cheeks were slightly sunken in, the whites of his eyes were a bit cloudy and tiny black spots covered his teeth. And it occurred to me: if açaí is such a wonder fruit, how is it that José Maria, and so many other people here, look like this?

In the Amazon locals have been eating açaí for a long time. And it's not in fancy juice bottles or weight loss pills. Instead it's more common for growers to have rudimentary wooden mills that grind the pulp away from the seed into a thick purple goop. Then they'll mix the pulp with starchy manioc flour and serve it with whatever meat might be on hand.

An açaí grower on a farm in Brazil holds a freshly harvested bunch of berries. Kelley Weiss/World Vision Update

I quickly found out that in the Amazon açaí isn't seen as a tasty treat or snack as it often is in America or larger Brazilian cities like Rio de Janeiro or São Paulo. For many people it's much more — an irreplaceable dietary staple. When I was flying out of the Amazon and looking down on the huge green blanket of rainforest, I saw things differently than when I had flown in. Of course the grandeur of the jungle, and its thousands of açaí trees, left me dumbstruck. But, I also found that a crippling poverty and isolation for the people along the river system surrounded the purple berry. I kept picturing José Maria scrambling up that palm tree. In the middle of the jungle he was showing me where açaí comes from, and how far removed it is from the global market. While the export of this berry is creating jobs and raising wages for the locals, at the same time some of the growers live in shacks along the river without electricity.

Intellectually, at least, I knew about the complexities of globalization before I went to this impoverished corner of a fast-developing country. It was my first international reporting trip and I knew it wouldn't be like my previous trips to third world countries on vacation. And I knew that one berry couldn't possibly turn an entire economy around ... although it is indeed helping ... but I guess I expected more after seeing açaí in the gleaming grocery store aisles of America.

Listen to Kelley's story here, or watch her photo slideshow on the harvesting of the açaí berry.