Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen - Wait list

Wild Chocolate

Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul

by Rowan Jacobsen
Sam Rushton
Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: At least 6 months
Place a hold Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: At least 6 months
Bloomsbury presents Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen, read by Sam Rushton

"Inspiring." —MARK BITTMAN
"One of the best stories under the sun." —JOSÉ ANDRÉS
From James Beard Award-winner Rowan Jacobsen, the thrilling story of the farmers, activists, and chocolate makers fighting all odds to revive ancient cacao and produce the world's finest bar.
When Rowan Jacobsen first heard of a chocolate bar made entirely from wild Bolivian cacao, he was skeptical. The waxy mass-market chocolate of his childhood had left him indifferent to it, and most experts believed wild cacao had disappeared from the rainforest centuries ago. But one dazzling bite of Cru Sauvage was all it took. Chasing chocolate down the supply chain and back through history, Jacobsen travels the rainforests of the Amazon and Central America to find the chocolate makers, activists, and indigenous leaders who are bucking the system that long ago abandoned wild and heirloom cacao in favor of high-yield, low-flavor varietals preferred by Big Chocolate.
What he found was a cacao renaissance. As his guides pulled the last vestiges of ancient cacao back from the edge of extinction, they'd forged an alternative system in the process—one that is bringing prosperity back to local economies, returning fertility to the land, and protecting it from the rampages of cattle farming. All the while, a new generation of bean-to-bar chocolate makers are racing to get their
hands on these rare varietals and produce extraordinary chocolate displaying a diversity of flavors no one had thought possible. Full of vivid characters, vibrant landscapes, and surprising history, Wild Chocolate promises to be as rich, complex, and addictive as good chocolate itself.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    October 8, 2024

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781639733606
      • File size: 220450 KB
      • Duration: 07:39:15

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      Starred review from August 15, 2024
      A spirited quest for the perfect cacao bean. Food journalist Jacobsen opens his comprehensive account in Oaxaca, Mexico, not far from a source of cacao and its resulting chocolate, so prized by the Aztecs that they expanded their empire far from its heartland to gain control of the Pacific coastal region where it grew. All cacao is, he writes, "ridiculously rich," with a fat content of at least 55 percent, but some of the world's most prized cacao, found in remote tropical forests from Mexico south to its homeland in the Bolivian jungle east of the Andes, is far richer still. These hard-to-find "wild cacao" plants fuel the gourmet chocolatiers of the world, such as the Swiss producer Felchlin, supplied by a German agronomist in Bolivia who built and lost a fortune in the chocolate trade but, for all his travails, can't stop searching for the cacao grail. Jacobsen goes far afield himself, meeting some wonderfully weird characters and tracing their finds to chocolate makers in the U.S. and Europe. A skilled food historian with a sharp eye for the economics of the delicious, he also peppers his prose with interesting tidbits, including the boom-and-bust ways of lumpen chocolatiers like Hershey, which once commandeered the entire cacao output of Belize but then, when market conditions changed, left growers holding the proverbial bag. Of particular interest to budding entrepreneurs is the fact that several of Jacobsen's subjects are young women who have carved a place for themselves as brokers for the organically grown, sustainable cacao whose growers are paid a premium. There's plenty of adventure left in the game, Jacobsen writes: "In all likelihood, the Amazon and other remote corners of Latin America harbor other unique families of cacao waiting for their big moment. The search continues." A treat for literate, adventure-loving foodies, best accompanied by a bespoke chocolate bar.

      COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Narrator Sam Rushton creates a compelling audiobook experience as he guides listeners through the world of wild cacao that is unique to the terroir of the Bolivian Lowlands, Brazilian Amazon, and parts of Mexico. This engaging narrative weaves the complex social and economic history of wild chocolate--from its medicinal, ritual, and familial uses in ancient and contemporary Mesoamerica to the voracious appetites and commercial enterprises governing contemporary global consumption today. Rushton's affable performance brings together the farmers and entrepreneurs involved in production and quality-conscious movements like bean-to-bar chocolatiers and other international organizations and locally based companies who create sustainable cacao farming within their communities. A thought-provoking listen that encourages listeners to look beyond the wrapper of their favorite treat. J.R.T. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading
Check out what's being checked out right now