Acai Caramel (i.e. purple butter)

Mmmmm, purple butter for utter holiday indulgence. Because if Coca Cola can make Santa red, why can't I make happiness purple?



1 Cup Sambazon Original Açaí Juice
2/3 heaping cup sugar
Pinch of salt
2 Tbsp heavy cream
2.5 Tbsp butter

In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, heat acai juice and let boil till reduced to 1/3. Reduce heat to medium and add sugar, salt, cream, butter and stir till everything is melted and mixed thoroughly. It will boil a bit ferociously, but don’t be scared, keep mixing occasionally.



After about 10 minutes or so, you should notice that the liquid is starting to congeal when stirred. Turn off heat and let it cool completely (if you’re rushed, put it in the fridge or freezer).



Once cool, pour caramel onto plastic wrap and form into a long stick bout ½ inch in diameter. Wrap up and place in freezer for another 15 minutes or until hard enough to cut. Cut into small candy sized pieces about ½ inch long, and wrap individually in plastic wrap, but not before you sneak one yourself.



Happy Holidays!

Water Warriors

Pro surfer Jon Rose was on a surf trip headed to Bali in 2009 when the tragic quake hit. A couple years prior, his dad Jack Rose had started Rain Catcher, a non-profit to distribute easy and economical water catchment and filtration systems in Africa. So Jon had a few water filters on him and promptly gave them out to aid workers in Sumatra. Seeing the devastation and the need for clean water inspired Jon to create Waves4Water and grow this concept of surf community distributed clean water systems.

“The mission is simple: To get clean water to every single person who needs it.”



Since then, Waves4Water has worked on the front line to provide clean water to communities in need around the world. They have worked on a community level, making simple filtration systems available to traveling surfers to give out to people in need at their destinations, and they have worked with strategic partners such as UN forces to distribute filters in earthquake crises areas.
Here are just some of the results:

Sumatra: Earthquake relief – 250 (community & family) filters distributed = 7000 people with access to clean water.
Bali: 37 villages on impoverished East side now stabilized and drinking clean water.
Haiti: Earthquake relief – 31,000 (community & family) filters distributed = 2,100,000 people with access to clean water.
Chile: Earthquake relief – 1000 (family) filters distributed = 10,000 people with access to clean water.

Today, Jack and Jon Rose are Sambazon warriors, and continue to Warrior Up by making positive change on a massive level across the world. Learn more about how Jack and Jon Warrior Up! Or stock up on water filters to become a clean water courier on your next trip to a developing nation.

Açaí Cookie Sandwiches

A little sweet, a lot creamy, a hint of purple goodness. These cookies are delish, made fresh and compiled right before you munch.



1 1/2 Cup flour
1 Tbsp cream of tartar
1/2 Tsp baking soda
1/4 Tsp salt

1 Stick (8 Tbsp) of butter, softened
3/4 Cup sugar
1 Tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp whole milk

1/2 package of cream cheese
1/2 original açaí smoothie pack

In a standup mixer or by hand with a whisk, mix the first 4 ingredients together in a bowl. In another bowl mix butter and sugar till creamy, then add vanilla and milk and mix till fully incorporated. Add the flour mix to the butter mix and blend till mixed.

Flour a cutting board and roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick, then place in the fridge for 30 minutes or longer.



When dough is cooled, use circular cookie cutters to cut out cookies. Make a smaller circle cut into half of the cookies.

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees, and bake cookies for 10 minutes or until slightly golden on the edges, then let cool completely.



Right before serving, blend cream cheese with açaí until fully mixed and schmear a tablespoon or so in between two cookies.

Sambazon's Symbiotic Relationship to the Brick Factory

During the açaí harvest season there are over 1,000,000 açaí seeds a day that come out (after the fruit has been processed) of the Sambazon factory located in the Brazilian Amazon. The seeds, a new found renewable resource, are used as fuel both Sambazon's own factory in the Amazon and a local brick factory that used to run solely on wood. The sustainable option, in this case, has become both an economically and socially viable choice.



Amapá Telhas, just two minutes from the Sambazon production plant, is a factory that produces clay bricks for industrial and residential use. Integral to manufacturing is the firing process, which cooks the soft malleable clay in to hard heavy-duty construction brick. Furnaces nearing temperatures of 2000 degrees Farenheit burn nearly all day long producing 500,000 tons of brick each day.



Before Sambazon began donating our seeds to Amapá Telhas, “we would use virgin wood from the surrounding area (Rainforest) to burn as fuel for the kilns.” Said owner Wagner Alonso Rodrigues.. It was calculated that each day one acre of native Rainforest wood was used to burn as fuel in the factory. That number has now been reduced by nearly 90%.

Saving an acre of Rainforest a day not only proved to be the socially responsible thing to do, it also proved to be economically advantageous. “We have reduced our wood purchasing so drastically that now we save $US 250 a day burning seed instead of wood,” comments Rodrigues. To put that number in perspective a bit, that is the same amount that the average factory employee gets paid in an entire month.

Making this process functional was not without its obstacles. The seed has to be stored properly, crushed and mixed with wood shavings to burn correctly and, in order to keep up with his modern equipment, Rodrigues installed a sophisticated distribution system for the seeds to be automatically added to each kiln as temperature dictates.



Sambazon and Amapa Telhas have wonderfully pioneered a socially responsible and economically profitable partnership. This symbiosis is exactly the type of collaboration we need to encourage and focus on as we continue to become aware of how precious our natural resources are.


Bridge to the future,

Scott Nemeth
Director of Lifestyle Marketing

Warrior of Change Seane Corn

Seane Corn is a modern yogini and renown instructor, her unabashed spirit has caught the eye of media around the country. Seane teaches a dynamic vinyasa flow and leads her students on an inner journey towards personal understanding, but beyond the studio, social change is her mantra.

Seane Corn, Hala Khouri and Suzanne Sterling founded Off the Mat, Into the World (OTM) in 2007. OTM helps individuals take the path of yoga “off the mat and into the world,” expanding the sphere of change outward to local and global communities through leadership trainings, fostering community collaboration, and initiating local and global service projects.

Using their expertise with leadership and positive change, OTM leaders will help us judge the Sambazon Warrior of Change Contest to elect the most realistic and impactful project proposals.

Through intensive weekends OTM empowers individuals to become leaders of social change in their communities by these simple, yet very important steps:

• Self-Inquiry: Who am I? What is my Purpose?
• Transformational Journey Work: Transforming our wounds into tools for healing.
• Community: Conscious collaboration skills.
• Action: Creating a group project that makes a difference.

If you’re interested in empowerment through yoga, OTM will be hosting leadership trainings in cities across the US next year. Till the end of November a 5% of all Sambazon’s Smoothie Pack Sales will be donated to scholarships that help yogis in need attend OTM trainings.

OTM is made up of thousands of yogis in action who practice, volunteer and teach all over the world. This network has created concrete positive change through tangible projects like the Global Seva Challenge that currently raises funds to support communities in crisis in South Africa, the Empowered Youth Initiative which immerses yogis with at-risk youth communities in inner city Los Angeles, and many more.
To get involved, visit www.offthematintotheworld.org


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Recipe: The Pumpkin Bowl

Fall's here, and that means feasts with the family, hot cocoa in front of the fireplace, and... pumpkins. So we got to a bit of experimenting and discovered a seasonal favorite.



The Pumpkin Bowl

2 Sambazon Original Smoothie Packs
1/4 Cup Pumpkin - I used organic pumpkin puree from Trader Joes, but you could use left over cooked pumpkin cubes as well.
1/4 Banana
A splash of spiced apple cider
A small squeeze of lemon juice



Blend up thick, pour into a bowl and top with banana slices, granola (try a pumpkin granola from your local health food market), and ground cinnamon.

Non-GMO Warrior: Jeffrey Smith

As you may, or may not, know this last October was the first ever Non-GMO month. The Non-GMO Project was sure to hand out Non-GMO shopping guides at local retailers and host educational events around the country that answered a very important question:

Why is non-GMO food important in the first place? Well, GMOs, or “genetically modified organisms,” are created by various genetic engineering techniques to produce species with specific attributes (bigger/better/faster). However, GMOs are not proven to be safe for consumption, although they are widely distributed around the world in many foods you may be consuming. Interesting thing to note, GMOs are banned in Europe where people fought successfully to keep them out of the food system, but here in the US widespread common foods like corn and soy (including most corn syrup) are made from GMO crops.

One man, known by the world as the no-GMO guy, Jeffrey Smith has a lot to say about the matter. His organization, called the Institute for Responsible Technology, states that,

“Genetic engineers continually encounter unintended side effects – GM plants create toxins, react to weather differently, contain too much or too little nutrients, become diseased or malfunction and die. When foreign genes are inserted, dormant genes may be activated or the functioning of genes altered, creating new or unknown proteins, or increasing or decreasing the output of existing proteins inside the plant. The effects of consuming these new combinations of proteins are unknown.” But people can predict, and Mr. Smith in his best seller, Genetic Roulette, clearly outlines numerous health and environmental threats from GMO activity.

Jeffrey Smith, a long time friend of Sambazon’s, is joining our tribe of Warriors and you’ll be able to see his full profile on the Sambazon website in a couple weeks.

If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to check out the Institute for Responsible Technology.

GreenFest in DC

Washington, DC, full of suits and big wigs, definitely has some hidden flair when it comes to the greenies. Last weekend we were at GreenFest DC, a big show where "green" companies set up booths and sample and sell their products to a hopefully eco-centric and eager crowd. We've been coming to this show as a company for a while, but this year was different... it was busy! Hopefully the sign of a flourishing trend towards environmental and social awareness throughout our nation's capitol.

We set up our Sambazon tent (as purple as possible), right next to our friends at Manitoba Harvest and Dr. Bronners, and made açaí bowls for every curious (and hungry) passerby. And it was certainly fun to see all our friends, including a surprise visit by the legendary Brasilian musician Gilberto Gil.



Next year Greenfest moves to NYC. Sad to leave our friends and fans in DC, but hope you'll all make the trip to see us next year in the Big Apple.

Keep it Purple,
Kaia Lai

Kassia Meador and Keep A Breast

Keep A Breast casts molds of women’s busts and partners with incredible artists to make them into beautiful pieces of art. Not only is this a great visual way to raise awareness about breast cancer, but KAB auctions the pieces off at events around the year to raise funds for projects. This is a glimpse into their 10 year anniversary event:

Acai Cheesecake

We all crave just a tiny bit of decadence here and there… So here’s the cure. Açaí cheesecake combines the creaminess of homemade cheesecake with a hint of açaí. Its delish, easy to make (although make it on your weekend as it needs to bake for a long time), and sure to impress.

2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 stick unsalted butter, melted

3 packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 Sambazon Original Açaí Smoothie Pack, thawed in a bowl of water till liquid

Preheat oven to 350F, with rack in the center.

Stir graham crackers and butter. Press into 8-or9-inch springform pan. Bake 10 minutes or until golden, then let cool completely.

Reduce oven temperature to 200F.

Mix cream cheese and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer using paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until lightened, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs and egg yolk, 1 at a time, sour cream and then vanilla extract and mix till smooth. Pour over crust in pan.



Drop acai puree over filling in a random pattern. Using a skewer, swirl decoratively.



Bake for 2 hours 30 minutes. Turn off the oven; let cheesecake remain in oven another 1 hour. Remove cheesecake from oven. Run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen and cool completely in springform pan on a rack. Chill cake, loosely covered for at least 6 hours. Remove side of pan and transfer cake to a plate.

Cardiff goes Green

Here at Sambazon we are all about creating positive change so any chance we get to inspire and empower others to do the same we don’t hesitate to participate. This weekend our San Diego team setup shop at the Cardiff Surf Classic and Green Beach Fair to help support a great community that is inspiring their town to create positive change everyday. Along with our friends and family at Guayaki, Clif Bar, Ocean Minded, Surfrider Foundation, Bamboo SK8 and Bull Taco, dozens of other vendors and businesses set up their booths to help show the community of Cardiff how everyday activities can easily be made green and sustainable to positively affect their environment and surroundings.

Surfrider and Ocean Minded teamed up to do a beach cleanup: all attendees who picked up 50 pieces of trash with the provided hardware were entered to win a prize and at the end of the event the trash was turned into an amazing recycled sculpture. It was great to see the community come together and show their love for the beach, the environment and help promote their sustainable business practices. Well done Cardiff – way to show your true colors and help others to Warrior Up! and create positive change.

Warrior Up,
Cameron Faist - Sambazon Event Manager

Water Warriors Take the Stage at the Hurley Pro

For the 4th year in a row, we served up açaí bowls at the Hurley Pro. Usually one of the more impressive surf contests at Trestles, this year topped all. Today, Hurly H2O tents sold re-useable water bottles (for $5!) and offered free refills for re-useable water containers. Not a bad deal and a great way to help people make the first step in reducing their use of single use plastics like disposable water bottles. The H20 Project is a collaboration between Hurley, Waves4Water and the Ecology Center to distribute water filters around the world in places of need and raise awareness for water conservation and environmental stewardship locally. This is a really amazing project, and I’m not just saying that because three of our local Orange County Warriors are involved (Jack and Jon Rose founded Waves4Water, and Evan Marks founded the Ecology Center).

Kudos to the Hurley Pro for supporting positive change, it’s just another reason why we keep coming back to this event each year. That, and all the athletes who tell us how grateful they are that Sambazon is there to fuel ‘em up. We think that açaí is the best thing on earth, and we’re suckers for people that think so too.

Thanks Hurley Pro, it was fun, see you all next year.

Team Sambazon

Almond Buttered Banana Freeze + Açaí

Recipe by Ani Phyo adapted from Ani’s Raw Food Essentials cookbook

Makes 4 servings

Almonds provide calcium, protein, and vitamin E, bananas are loaded with potassium, and açaí is full of antioxidants and healthy omegas. This easy smoothie is a great post workout fuel – it helps increase circulation and blood flow to stressed muscles, while building lean tissue.

2 bananas, sliced
1/4 cup raw almond butter
1 tbsp raw cacao powder
3 to 4 cups Organic Sambazon Açaí Juice

Combine the banana, almond butter, and organic Sambazon Açaí Juice in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth. Best served immediately, but will keep for a couple days in the fridge.

Real Deal Açaí

It’s beautiful to observe the growing importance that we as consumers are placing on the source and authenticity of our food. Movies like Food Inc. are helping to make us aware of the injustices within the food industry so we can shape positive change through our purchasing decisions.

Since bringing açaí to market, we’ve witnessed how subtle inaccuracies around açaí in the marketplace evolved into pervasive misinformation as companies both large and small raced to jump on the açaí bandwagon.

It’s become apparent that açaí scams of one form or another have become all too pervasive; and so, we’ve taken it as our duty to lift the veil and let the truth be known, a campaign we call our Real Deal Açaí series.

The goal for this new educational campaign is to provide a simple means by which people can determine the amount of ‘whole food açaí’ in a given product. In an effort to remain as objective as possible, we’ve posted the lab results of some relevant açaí products as examples of what to look out for.

The Real Deal Açaí series will come to you in the form of blogs, newsletters and messaging on our products’ labels as well from the Real Deal Açaí page of our website.

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with this new resource so you too can become a source of Açaí truth:

http://www.sambazon.com/realdeal


Yours in all things Açaí,

-skanda

Sambazon Warrior Up Launch Party!

This week Sambazon Launched Warrior Up in San Diego, CA. It’s campaign that celebrates warriors of change – people like Rob Machado, Bob Burnquist, Seane Corn, and many others. Here’s some photos of the launch party. Thanks to everyone that came, especially our Sambazon Warriors who have contributed to much to this project.



Ray Barbee and the Matson II performed a great opening set!



Manu Scaarpa, Stephanie Bernstein ( To-Go Ware), Rob Machado (Rob Machado Foundation) and Jeremy Black (VP Marketing Sambazon).


Raw Food Chef Ani Phyo posses with her pup, her manager Kato, and Sambazon's Scotty Nemeth.



Kassia Meador gets in character with a group of friends.



Sambazon's Warrior Up photo booth inspired a whole ton of interesting shots - headdresses included.



Bob Burnquist and wife Veronica show us how they Warriored Up!

For all the photos, check out our flickr stream. And hear what Fuel TV had to say about the night!

Featured Recipe: Warrior Fuel

The ultimate Warrior Bowl, fuel for a lifetime of fighting the good fight.

Blend this:
2 Sambazon Original Açaí Smoothie Packs
A splash of Coconut water
1/2 Banana
1 tbsp Maca powder
1 tbsp Greens (we like Amazing Grass, but any greens mix will do)


Pour your açaí blend in to a bowl and top with:
Bee pollen
Cacao nibs
Hemp seeds
1/2 Banana slices

Then put your Warrior headdress on and start creating solutions to the most pressing issues that challenge our world today. Go ahead, do it.

Forrest Shearer's Sneak Peak of DEEPER Film

"DEEPER" is the most progressive big mountain snowboarding film to date. Follow top freeriders including Sambazon Ambassador Forrest Shearer as they travel to the world's snowboarding meccas and venture past the boundaries of helicopters, snowmobiles, and lifts to explore an untouched realm - Night hikes, sleeping on peaks, camping 65 miles from civilization, 20 below temperatures, 10 day storms, and 20 mile days bring the adventure back into riding. "The Deeper crew put cameras in places and in conditions you could never imagine. It is the ultimate first-hand experience and the most insane riding I have ever seen." - TGR co-founder Steve Jones.

Coming Fall 2010

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"I like to earn my turns in the backcountry mountains around the world. This was a line filmed for Deeper. It was a first descent for a snowboarder, no one had ever done it before. The approach to get up there took me 5+ hours of hiking and splitboarding. Your going to have to wait and see the footage in Deeper, but meanwhile heres a couple first hand photos to keep you stoked. Enjoy!

Signature line - Photo by Zach Clanton

Halfway through The Firing Squad - Photo by Zach Clanton

This spring in Utah I was committed to checking out an area rumored to have some fun pillows. On a down day, I had Neil Provo meet me for a mellow mission to head up and explore. The pillows ended up being too low in elevation so we kept going not knowing what we would end up finding. We got to where the trail ended and had to turn back due to a late start. I did take a photo of this line that ran all the way from the top through a extremely spicy diagonal ramp that ended in an apron. I couldn’t get it out of my mind and I immediately put it to the top of my hit list (conditions permitting). Jump forward to a 5:30 am start – it was a solo mission, I was determined to complete the objective. With 2 ice axes and crampons I made my way up, tackling a scree field with loose rock near the top. Go time. Completely focused my mind turned off. It was me and the mountain. Coming into the diagonal ramp there was no room for error. Ice axe in hand I made it through the crux. Riding out the bottom, the stars aligned, I was thrilled that the line came together. When you’re splitboarding the connection to the mountains is like no other.

Its amazing the gratification you get from splitboarding and hiking. When your out there off the beaten path you become more in tune with the environment. It allows you to bring it back to the basics, there's a deeper connection to mountains. For me, health starts here with Sambazon açaí."

-Written by Forrest Shearer, Professional Snowboarder and Sambazon Ambassador

Q & A: Sambazon's Sustainable Business Practices

Q and A highlights standout inquiries from customers that we receive each month.

Q: What impact does your açaí harvest have on the Amazon Rainforest and what does it mean when you say your açaí is “sustainable”?

A: Click play below to find out!


If you have questions or comments, please email them to Sambazon Co-Founder Ed Nichols at info@sambazon.com, and he will be in touch!

Featured Recipe: Açaí Sangria

Açaí Sangria
1 bottle of table wine (choose an inexpensive, medium bodied red wine)
1-2 bottles Sambazon Antioxidant Elixir (our favorite flavor was blackberry)
2 Oranges
1 Lemon
1 Apple
Sparkling water

Slice one orange in thin half rounds, one lemon in thin full rounds, and one apple into thin strips. Place fruit into a pitcher, add wine and one bottle of Elixir, and then juice the remaining orange into the pitcher. Stir and taste. If you like a milder sangria add half to all of the second Elixir bottle. If you like a sweeter sangria, add some organic agave syrup.


It’s best to let Sangria sit in the fridge for a couple hours prior to serving as the flavors of the fruit will become more pronounced.



To serve, pour sangria into glasses, make sure to include some fruit in each glass, and top with a splash of sparkling water.


Açaí Sangria- The Virgin
6 bottles Sambazon Antioxidant Elixir (our favorite flavor was blackberry)
2 Oranges
1 Lemon
1 Apple
2 Cups sparkling water
Slice fruit, place in pitcher, add Elixir, sparkling water, and ice, and serve immediately.

Feature: A Competitor’s First Ironman

With six months of training under his belt and along with a lifetime long competitive streak, Scott Nemeth, one of Sambazon’s own, embarked on a path few of us will ever race down. But to Scotty, that ominous word, the Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26 mile marathon), has always been inspiring, ever since he saw the race on TV as a little boy.

A Sambazon employee since the very early days, Scott has traveled to Brazil many times for work and pleasure. He even found the love of his life in a small town called Florianopolis. So it was no surprise when Scott registered for Ironman Brazil with the goal of giving back to a community and a country that has given him so much.

Scott is entirely a self trained triathlete, and although he has surfed his whole life, he only started swimming in an actual pool late last year. Initially, Scott started training for triathlons as a rehab tool – in his highschool and college football career, Scott managed to have one surgery on each knee, one on his right shoulder, and not one… not two, but four on his left. But, at the end of the day, he admits, “I wanted to see if the Ironman was really possible.”

After the first few months of light training, Scott raced in his first Olympic distance triathlon, and then embarked on a ridged online based training program from Multisports.com customized by heart rate, and a diet of organic, whole food. Throughout the day, he ate sometimes simple, sometimes elaborate creations that his wife, a natural foodie, would tailor to his fitness goals. Working in the natural food industry, Scott already had a healthy head start on the not-so nutritious bar eating and sugary sports drink chugging population.

Physically prepared for what lie ahead, Scott left the office nearly two weeks prior to his Ironman to work with Professional Trials Mountain Biker and Sambazon Ambassador Hans Rey’s Wheels4Life – a non-profit charity that provides free bicycles for people in need of transportation in developing countries.



In Florianopolis, Scott connected with the local triathlon federation and the local newspaper to select the individuals most in need of a bike. Many people selected were students in local schools that volunteered in the Ironman preparations and the rest were nominated by the local community. Thanks to sponsors Power Balance, Manitoba Harvest, Sambazon, Houston Bikes, Dr. Bronner’s, Coco Hydro, and Sol Raiz, Scott was able to donate 25 bikes to the local community and tell the story throughout Brazil and the US.

Skip forward to race day. Starting before the sun rose, Scott jumped in the water as ambitious as the 1600 competitors beside him. While it was nearly impossible for him to train with fellow triathletes, Scott soon learned that the comraderie each competitor had towards each other on race day was unfathomable. “The guy that finished first had the same amount of respect for the guy that finished last as the guy that finished last had for the guy that finished first. It’s an incredible community and that’s why people keep doing it,” says Scott.

Not satisfied with one Ironman, Scott already has goals of qualifying for Kona. Kona is to the Triathlon community as the World Cup is to soccer. The best of the best in the world compete all year just to reach a qualifying time that keeps getting faster and faster. To qualify, Scott will have to drop his race time by at least 2 hours, something he hopes to do within the next year or two.

Scott’s not worried, nor is anyone else. He’s going to make it, his competitive spirit and his drive for the greater good won’t let it be any other way.

For more information about Scott’s journey and his work with Wheels4Life, visit his Ironman blog or www.Wheels4Life.org.