A Greener Acai Berry?

Many people who eat sustainably — particularly in California — are also likely to participate in food fads such as cleanses, kombucha tea and açaí berry everything.

But these so-called miracle foods' markets expand incredibly fast, and the issue of sustainability is often lost in the shuffle.

Açaí is a good case in point. After all, it grows in the Brazilian Amazon. Were trees being cut down in the name of this yippie favorite?

The answer is unclear, largely due to the unanswered question of whether it's better to support limited farming in the Amazon, in hopes that farm income will alleviate peasants' need to cut down trees for cash, or to take a purist stand against any human activity in the rainforest.

Of course, the very existence of the healthful açaí berry makes the case for preserving the Amazon's rich biodiversity.

But then there's the trouble of food miles.

Well, here's a bit of good news: The good-old American chokeberry has nutritional properties that compete with the açaí's, and it is being grown sustainably in Missouri Valley, Iowa, by a retired Kraft Foods employee and his family. (Of course, to appeal to the yippie market, the berry is now being referred to by the more exotic-sounding name of aronia.)

Sawmill Hollow Organic Farm sits amid rolling hillsides planted with industrial soy and corn, but it has started a small resurgence of chokeberry crops, according to this engaging little profile.

If you're looking for a new superfood in your life and you want one that grows a little closer to home, check out the farm's products page. (Sadly, unlike the açaí, these berries aren't tasty enough to eat without preparing them first.)

Photo credit: Sawmill Valley Organic Farm