Thriving Acquisitions

Move over, mangosteen: If you haven’t yet heard of maqui berry, you’re probably not in the nutraceuticals business. Maqui is the big news from the superfruits realm in 2009, says Steve Siegal, vice president, Ecuadorian Rainforest LLC, Belleville, NJ.

Also known as Chilean wine berry, maqui is grown and harvested in the Patagonia region of southern Chile, and depending on who you talk to, its oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) is three to eight times that of yesterday’s antioxidant darling, açaí from Brazil. The deep-purple maqui berry, the flavor of which is refreshing without being overly sweet, is also considered an excellent source of vitamins A and C, calcium, iron and potassium.

“People largely know about açaí, which is in products at 7-Eleven,” Siegal says. Extensive media coverage of the health benefits of açaí in 2007 and 2008 created more consumer demand for new high-antioxidant fruits. Siegal believes the landscape already paved by açaí will catapult maqui to household-word status within a much shorter timeframe.

Over in the rugged mountains of the Philippine island of Luzon lies what has been called the Eighth Wonder of the World: the Philippine Rice Terraces, carved out of the hillside by Ifugao tribe people millennia ago. Stretching for nearly 4,000 square miles, crops are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests high above the terraces.

From this unique area of the world comes several fair trade heirloom rice varieties distributed by Eighth Wonder, a company dedicated to preserving the traditional Filipino rice farmers’ way of life. “The area is very remote,” says Don Kuiken, industrial sales manager, Indian Harvest, Inc., Bemidji, MN. “The natives have nothing, really. They live off of rice, growing all of their own consumption, and now they’ve found, through Eighth Wonder, how to market and get some revenue from the specialty rices they grow.”

RELATIONSHIPS ARE KEY

Ecuador-born Marlene Hurtado-Siegel personally visits South American farmers and harvesters to spec production of herbs, fruits, vegetables and marine products on behalf of the company she founded, Ecuadorian Rainforest. The one-on-one relationship between the company’s key decision-maker and direct suppliers goes far to establish trust on both sides.