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Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of Cacao's Soul
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.
"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.
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Published October 8, 2024
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About the author
Rowan Jacobsen
18 books106 followersRowan Jacobsen is the James Beard Award-winning author of A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America, Fruitless Fall: The Collapse of the Honey Bee and the Coming Agricultural Crisis, and The Living Shore, about our ancient connection to estuaries and their potential to heal the oceans. He has written for the New York Times, Newsweek, Harper’s, Outside, Eating Well, Forbes, Popular Science, and others, and his work has been anthologized in The Best American Science and Nature Writing and Best Food Writing collections. Whether visiting endangered oystermen in Louisiana or cacao-gathering tribes in the Bolivian Amazon, his subject is how to maintain a sense of place in a world of increasing placelessness. His 2010 book, American Terroir, was named one of the Top Ten Books of the Year by Library Journal. His newest, Shadows on the Gulf: A Journey Through Our Last Great Wetland, was released in 2011. His Outside Magazine piece “Heart of Dark Chocolate” received the 2011 Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers for best adventure story of the year. He is a 2012 Alicia Patterson Foundation fellow, writing about endangered diversity on the borderlands between India, Myanmar, and China.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
November 9, 2024
Are you more of a Hersheys/Ghirardelli kind of chocolate eater, or do you like obscure brands in the Whole Foods treats aisle? If it’s the latter, you might enjoy Wild Chocolate - a recent release all about wild, single-origin chocolate. Similar to coffee or wine, chocolate can have terroir (a specific taste based on where it was produced) - this complexity is what drives many of the famers, activists, co-ops owners and chocolate makers to produce sustainable, ethically farmed, single origin chocolate. And if you’re willing to pay $10+ bar, you can try it yourself!
There was a lot in here, but overall I’d say it encompasses bean-to-bar supply chain, which the heaviest influence being on the production of cacao. I particularly liked hearing about the history of chocolate in the Americas and all the genetic differences in cacao pods. I will admit that Jacobsen’s interweaving of various storylines caused me to mix up different farmers/co-ops and have them all bend together, but I still feel like I took a decent amount away from this.
Two other comments:
- The day I finished this book, I happened to be at my local grocery store and they had a single origin chocolate bar from one of the organizations talked about in the book! I happily ate it thinking about Wild Chocolate.
- As part of a team bonding event at my work, we recently went to Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco’s Mission district - and it was totally fascinating! Some of the facts in Wild Chocolate I had actually learned during that factory tour, but the thing that stood out to me the most is how delicious cacao (the fruit) is - I got a cacao smoothie at the end of the tour and it reminded me a bit of a citrusy rambutan or lychee! The tour even ended with a tasting of all their single origin chocolate bars and you can ABSOLUTELY taste the difference between different cacao sources. Highly, highly recommend if you are local!
3.5/5 stars
There was a lot in here, but overall I’d say it encompasses bean-to-bar supply chain, which the heaviest influence being on the production of cacao. I particularly liked hearing about the history of chocolate in the Americas and all the genetic differences in cacao pods. I will admit that Jacobsen’s interweaving of various storylines caused me to mix up different farmers/co-ops and have them all bend together, but I still feel like I took a decent amount away from this.
Two other comments:
- The day I finished this book, I happened to be at my local grocery store and they had a single origin chocolate bar from one of the organizations talked about in the book! I happily ate it thinking about Wild Chocolate.
- As part of a team bonding event at my work, we recently went to Dandelion Chocolate in San Francisco’s Mission district - and it was totally fascinating! Some of the facts in Wild Chocolate I had actually learned during that factory tour, but the thing that stood out to me the most is how delicious cacao (the fruit) is - I got a cacao smoothie at the end of the tour and it reminded me a bit of a citrusy rambutan or lychee! The tour even ended with a tasting of all their single origin chocolate bars and you can ABSOLUTELY taste the difference between different cacao sources. Highly, highly recommend if you are local!
3.5/5 stars
October 2, 2025
Trying to read more nonfiction during my funemployment and this was a good start. I enjoyed learning about cacao’s history in Mesoamerica and how colonization impacted its production and popularity. Per usual all roads lead to Montezuma’s first encounter with the Spaniards for me and it was cool to learn that’s when Europeans first discovered chocolate. The author discussed many chocolate varieties, regions, and producers which was very interesting, but became difficult to keep up with.
August 18, 2025
A somewhat interesting account of one man's journey through the world of artisanal chocolate in the Americas. At the beginning, Jacobsen is not an expert in chocolate and doesn't pretend to be. He takes the reader along on his discoveries about everything from the basics of cocoa trees, picking pods, and preparing beans to the more complicated and less well-known history of rare cocoa strains and their cultivators. Jacobsen's story is told almost entirely through the experiences of a handful of players at the heart of the "bean-to-bar" movement--people who help create high-end, "single-origin" chocolate bars that sell for five times your typical Hershey's.
Jacobsen spends a significant amount of time on the mechanics and history of chocolate making, taking us from tree to bar and recounting the history of chocolate as it spread from villages in Mesoamerica to chocolatiers in Europe and finally to farmers in Africa. Its interesting to get this background on a common and favored part of my diet. Yet, the economics of the industry are relatively under-explained. Jacobsen only briefly mentions the main source of cocoa today-- farmers in west Africa--because he looks down on this cocoa as cheap, commercialized, and low-quality. He is a chocolate elitist.
Perhaps, then, its unsurprising that a majority of his subjects are wealthy first worlders "venturing into the unknown" of rural Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Brazil to "discover" new cocoa strains and develop superior chocolates. These discoveries are not usually true revelations, but instead vignettes of entrepreneurs identifying and cultivating supply lines for their burgeoning businesses.
The intent of his subjects, in their own terms, is almost always about production and marketing of a new cocoa brand. They complain of the poor quality chocolate available in their city much the way a new entrant to a market moans about an incumbent firm. Inevitably these entrepreneurs tack on a "sustainable development" justification for their mission. Yet, except when complaining about costs, these stories say little about running an actual chocolate business. This is an interesting choice give that at least two characters inherited chocolate businesses and several more seem to have substantial industry connections. The pitch from these business leaders, and from Jacobsen himself, is made simultaneously to rural peasants and readers alike: the only way to uplift these communities is for niche, hipster chocolate makers to become popular in rich countries. If not, the peasants will starve, or worse, live at the mercy of drug dealers, and the rest of us will be left with disgusting, low-grade, common chocolate.
This hard sell is surprising. There's nothing original about a critic passionately advocating for their preferred underground movement, but to make the pitch on not only aesthetic but economic grounds is something else entirely. After all, Jacobsen's story of sustainable development through high-end beans--a development that can only be sustained by paying much higher rates per pound of cocoa than commodity rates--elides dissenting views to such an extent that it comes across as marketing. Sure, Jacobsen is concerned for Bolivians in the Amazon, but what does he say to the Ghanian cocoa farmer who loses if Criollo chocolate gains market share? Again, its not the idea of beans-to-bar cocoa that's objectionable (I enjoy single-origin chocolates!), its Jacobsen's strange and repetitive criticism of "commodity" cocoa at the expense of the small scale artisan and their business that is off-putting. We hear a lot from the entrepreneurs, a little from the peasants, and nothing from anyone else. Despite his arguments in favor of the economics of beans-to-bars, Jacobsen does no investigation of the economics of the cocoa industry as a whole.
This lack of introspection is a disappointment. The book adds up to less than the sum of its parts. Jacobsen set out to teach the world about cocoa but ends up writing a marketing piece for artisans instead. I enjoyed the history and background on cocoa-making, but the rest of this book was strangely one-note and didactic where it didn't need to be.
Jacobsen spends a significant amount of time on the mechanics and history of chocolate making, taking us from tree to bar and recounting the history of chocolate as it spread from villages in Mesoamerica to chocolatiers in Europe and finally to farmers in Africa. Its interesting to get this background on a common and favored part of my diet. Yet, the economics of the industry are relatively under-explained. Jacobsen only briefly mentions the main source of cocoa today-- farmers in west Africa--because he looks down on this cocoa as cheap, commercialized, and low-quality. He is a chocolate elitist.
Perhaps, then, its unsurprising that a majority of his subjects are wealthy first worlders "venturing into the unknown" of rural Mexico, Guatemala, Bolivia, and Brazil to "discover" new cocoa strains and develop superior chocolates. These discoveries are not usually true revelations, but instead vignettes of entrepreneurs identifying and cultivating supply lines for their burgeoning businesses.
The intent of his subjects, in their own terms, is almost always about production and marketing of a new cocoa brand. They complain of the poor quality chocolate available in their city much the way a new entrant to a market moans about an incumbent firm. Inevitably these entrepreneurs tack on a "sustainable development" justification for their mission. Yet, except when complaining about costs, these stories say little about running an actual chocolate business. This is an interesting choice give that at least two characters inherited chocolate businesses and several more seem to have substantial industry connections. The pitch from these business leaders, and from Jacobsen himself, is made simultaneously to rural peasants and readers alike: the only way to uplift these communities is for niche, hipster chocolate makers to become popular in rich countries. If not, the peasants will starve, or worse, live at the mercy of drug dealers, and the rest of us will be left with disgusting, low-grade, common chocolate.
This hard sell is surprising. There's nothing original about a critic passionately advocating for their preferred underground movement, but to make the pitch on not only aesthetic but economic grounds is something else entirely. After all, Jacobsen's story of sustainable development through high-end beans--a development that can only be sustained by paying much higher rates per pound of cocoa than commodity rates--elides dissenting views to such an extent that it comes across as marketing. Sure, Jacobsen is concerned for Bolivians in the Amazon, but what does he say to the Ghanian cocoa farmer who loses if Criollo chocolate gains market share? Again, its not the idea of beans-to-bar cocoa that's objectionable (I enjoy single-origin chocolates!), its Jacobsen's strange and repetitive criticism of "commodity" cocoa at the expense of the small scale artisan and their business that is off-putting. We hear a lot from the entrepreneurs, a little from the peasants, and nothing from anyone else. Despite his arguments in favor of the economics of beans-to-bars, Jacobsen does no investigation of the economics of the cocoa industry as a whole.
This lack of introspection is a disappointment. The book adds up to less than the sum of its parts. Jacobsen set out to teach the world about cocoa but ends up writing a marketing piece for artisans instead. I enjoyed the history and background on cocoa-making, but the rest of this book was strangely one-note and didactic where it didn't need to be.
August 9, 2024
Part Amazonian adventure, part cultural history, this is a fantastic quest to find and nurture the forgotten, wild cacao of Central and South America. Jacobsen has written extensively on terroir and is out to prove that terroir is important for cacao and chocolate as it is for wine or coffee or oysters. Brilliant and fascinating!
January 26, 2025
The Good: A survey of the history and the people of wild and heirloom chocolate
The Bad: The structure of the book is choppy; personal account is distracting
The Literary: Lots of great information in small bites, from historical to ecological to political
In the vein of a travelogue, Rowan Jacobsen uses the story of his visits to South America to introduce the history and the people of wild chocolate. Wild chocolate is exactly what is sounds like—chocolate that's grown wild. Many once believed wild chocolate to be extinct, as the strains of chocolate we know through Hershey, Mars, and Nestle only grows under very specific conditions, mostly in Africa. But chocolate originated in the Americas, so it only makes sense that some cacao still grows wild in the hidden rainforests.
What I love most about this book is that it opened my eyes to the chocolate supply chain, to its history, and the people who over the last two decades have sought to bring back heirloom cacao that's sustainable, rich in terroir, and good for local economies. As you might expect, Big Chocolate has taken something that was once ceremonial and highly varied among indigenous groups and turned it into something that is overly sweet, waxy, and all tastes the same.
The story of chocolate in Africa is rife with economic tragedy. Ghana and the Ivory Coast account for of two-thirds of the world's production of chocolate. Those farmers never come close to knowing where their cacao goes, as there can be more than a dozen middlemen, each taking their own cut, with each batch getting mixed with others as needed. Most farmers never taste their own chocolate.
Worse still, child labor is rampant. In 2001, an amendment to an FDA appropriations bill to fund the labeling of chocolate produced with child slave labor passed the House. Big Chocolate rallied and lobbied the Senate. Instead of the labeling law, they agreed to a voluntary protocol to eliminate the "worst forms of child labor". The issue is partly because the chocolate makers have no idea of the details of their own supply chain, and they have plenty of reasons not to look too deep.
I'm eager to learn more about the genetic sequencing of cacao varieties, after Juan Carlos Motamayor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service sequenced the genome. He found that all modern cacao could be traced back to ten original families from the Upper Amazon. But since that initial report, two additional families have been identified, and more may still be discovered. The Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund has certified seventeen heirloom varieties.
Unfortunately, I find Jacobson's personal account of visiting these places underwhelming. His story and insights don't add much. The personalities of the cacao enthusiasts really shine, including German engineer Volker, who was assigned to Bolivia by the German government to pay local farmers to grow something other than coca, the source plant for cocaine. But even the cacao explorers, who hunt through the jungles of Guatemala, Brazil, and Mexico, all blend together with the interweaving structure of the chapters. Overall, the storytelling and presentation distracts from the already fascinating information.
You don't have to read this book; I'll put the good stuff here: Try mail-order chocolate from Caputo's, Dancing Lion, or The Meadow. Learn more online at the C-Spot, The Chocolate Lie, Dame Cacao, the Fine Chocolate Industry Association, or the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. Look for the label "bean-to-bar" on chocolate in-stores.
The Bad: The structure of the book is choppy; personal account is distracting
The Literary: Lots of great information in small bites, from historical to ecological to political
In the vein of a travelogue, Rowan Jacobsen uses the story of his visits to South America to introduce the history and the people of wild chocolate. Wild chocolate is exactly what is sounds like—chocolate that's grown wild. Many once believed wild chocolate to be extinct, as the strains of chocolate we know through Hershey, Mars, and Nestle only grows under very specific conditions, mostly in Africa. But chocolate originated in the Americas, so it only makes sense that some cacao still grows wild in the hidden rainforests.
What I love most about this book is that it opened my eyes to the chocolate supply chain, to its history, and the people who over the last two decades have sought to bring back heirloom cacao that's sustainable, rich in terroir, and good for local economies. As you might expect, Big Chocolate has taken something that was once ceremonial and highly varied among indigenous groups and turned it into something that is overly sweet, waxy, and all tastes the same.
The story of chocolate in Africa is rife with economic tragedy. Ghana and the Ivory Coast account for of two-thirds of the world's production of chocolate. Those farmers never come close to knowing where their cacao goes, as there can be more than a dozen middlemen, each taking their own cut, with each batch getting mixed with others as needed. Most farmers never taste their own chocolate.
Worse still, child labor is rampant. In 2001, an amendment to an FDA appropriations bill to fund the labeling of chocolate produced with child slave labor passed the House. Big Chocolate rallied and lobbied the Senate. Instead of the labeling law, they agreed to a voluntary protocol to eliminate the "worst forms of child labor". The issue is partly because the chocolate makers have no idea of the details of their own supply chain, and they have plenty of reasons not to look too deep.
I'm eager to learn more about the genetic sequencing of cacao varieties, after Juan Carlos Motamayor at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service sequenced the genome. He found that all modern cacao could be traced back to ten original families from the Upper Amazon. But since that initial report, two additional families have been identified, and more may still be discovered. The Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund has certified seventeen heirloom varieties.
Unfortunately, I find Jacobson's personal account of visiting these places underwhelming. His story and insights don't add much. The personalities of the cacao enthusiasts really shine, including German engineer Volker, who was assigned to Bolivia by the German government to pay local farmers to grow something other than coca, the source plant for cocaine. But even the cacao explorers, who hunt through the jungles of Guatemala, Brazil, and Mexico, all blend together with the interweaving structure of the chapters. Overall, the storytelling and presentation distracts from the already fascinating information.
You don't have to read this book; I'll put the good stuff here: Try mail-order chocolate from Caputo's, Dancing Lion, or The Meadow. Learn more online at the C-Spot, The Chocolate Lie, Dame Cacao, the Fine Chocolate Industry Association, or the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Fund. Look for the label "bean-to-bar" on chocolate in-stores.
December 2, 2024
Really excellent account of the current state of the chocolate industry and cacao supply chain. His stories make you feel like you're there with him. Highly recommend.
December 17, 2024
I really loved this book. It’s so amazing the adventure, history, and culture that goes into a bar of chocolate like ugh I just love how special it is. Now I need a sweet treat.
October 11, 2024
Chocolate in it's modern sweet and solid form is a mainstay of the daily American diet, but this largess is not without cost. Much of it comes from African land that was formerly rain forest and is maintained and harvested by child age workers despite pledges and promises to do better by the chocolate industry. American author and journalist Rowan Jacobsen's latest work, Wild Chocolate: Across the Americas in Search of CaCao's Soul shows how it never needed to be this way.
Cacao (or Theobroma cacao) is a small tree that grows seed pods know as cocoa beans that after being processed (fermented, dried, roasted and ground) are the main ingredient of chocolates. While it widely grown in Africa, it is native to the American Tropics where it can still be found having survived from its ancient use by the Maya and Aztec civilizations.
Wild Chocolate follows Jacobsen's reporting of the bean to bar sustainability movement that served as a counter to the US and European traditional chocolates. Chapters alternate between figures and there efforts to find and sustain supply chains to create consumable chocolate with unique flavors and the surprising hazards including paying off drug smugglers, life in a tropical rain forest or perfecting cacoa processing. The book also highlights were readers can purchase some of the feature companies products'
Recommended reading for readers or researchers of sustainable industries, food industry or travel writing.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
Cacao (or Theobroma cacao) is a small tree that grows seed pods know as cocoa beans that after being processed (fermented, dried, roasted and ground) are the main ingredient of chocolates. While it widely grown in Africa, it is native to the American Tropics where it can still be found having survived from its ancient use by the Maya and Aztec civilizations.
Wild Chocolate follows Jacobsen's reporting of the bean to bar sustainability movement that served as a counter to the US and European traditional chocolates. Chapters alternate between figures and there efforts to find and sustain supply chains to create consumable chocolate with unique flavors and the surprising hazards including paying off drug smugglers, life in a tropical rain forest or perfecting cacoa processing. The book also highlights were readers can purchase some of the feature companies products'
Recommended reading for readers or researchers of sustainable industries, food industry or travel writing.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
March 26, 2025
An ode to biodiversity and fermentation, what more could a gal ask for? An adventure through the rainforests in search of some of humanity’s sweetest lost treasures with crusaders of culture, ecology, and gastronomy. A Willy Wonky/Indiana Jones hybrid only the artifacts aren’t destined for a museum but our mouths.
May 12, 2025
I come from a long line of chocoholics, so this book was a fantastic read. I learned so much about the plant that has brought my family together for generations. Jacobsen has a wonderful way of writing that draws you in and keeps you wanting to find out what happens next (even if the journey is ongoing and the ending happens after the end of this book). A magical experience. 10/10 would recommend.
November 21, 2025
I learned alot about cocao beans and the rainforest communities although I felt a few threads were very similar so felt repetitive. These folks clearly had a shared passion and the drive to pursue it. I do love me some good chocolate, so I’m glad they are cultivating and preserving wild varieties
March 25, 2025
Highly recommend
September 2, 2025
Sometimes in life you know you’re about to start a new interest phase and I think I might be in my chocolate making era
September 11, 2025
A wonderful lesson in the chocolate trade and it's inception.
October 21, 2025
3.5 ⭐️ Interesting read and I did learn a lot but it did leave me wanting more discussions on themes that show up that I think are important to discuss.
March 15, 2025
Part of me was skeptical that there could be so much to fill a book on cacao, but this was so good! The author’s writing brought all the locations and people vividly to life on the page, and I learned a ton. I really want to try some of these “single vintage” chocolates now!
June 3, 2025
i’m so hungry now
July 18, 2025
There are some engaging stories here of heroic figures who have moved to the wilds of Bolivia, Brazil, Belize and Mexico to revive the ancient art of cultivating original strains of cacao. If this sounds a tad patronising, well yes, it does. Jacobson has centered his story largely on Americans who have migrated south with money and connections to make an ethical fortune from businesses based on the labour of locals. One exception is Brazilian chocolate maker Luisa Abram, who disappoints her wealthy family initially by wanting to study culinary arts before founding an artisan chocolate business. It isn't that I don't think this work is a good thing, but I did increasingly uncomfortable as the chocolate growers seemed mostly to appear as exotic stories (one Bolivian grower is described only by the monkey hiding in her hair) or bewildered would be farmers waiting for outside expertise. While There is critique of how the economy tends toward cash crops, there is little critique of how the dynamics of capitalism work to deny Indigenous people control of their own resources. While I am all for good chocolate, I would prefer it to come with a slightly more respectful centering of the voices of those who grow, pick and cultivate it
August 25, 2025
Wild Chocolate by Rowan Jacobsen (review)
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.
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This book was FASCINATING! It’s been a while since I’ve read a non-fiction book that was so un-put-down-able. 🙃 I learned so much:
-how deeply intrinsic chocolate is to Meso-American history
-how chocolate as a heritage has been appropriated from Latin America by Big Chocolate
-how Big Chocolate’s poor agricultural practices have impoverished both Latin America AND Africa, and caused so much deforestation
-how important the fermentation process is to the flavor of chocolate
-that there are SO MANY endangered and/or undiscovered varieties of cocao hidden in the wilds of Latin America
-that chocolate making is an art, and it’s endangered by our modern obsession with efficiency
… and so much more!
I highly recommend this book— it has adventure, travel journalism, cultural explanations, the stories of so many people, and a heart for art and nature at its core.
5 ⭐️
CW: mentions of cartels and dr*g trade, infrequent strong language
.
.
.
This book was FASCINATING! It’s been a while since I’ve read a non-fiction book that was so un-put-down-able. 🙃 I learned so much:
-how deeply intrinsic chocolate is to Meso-American history
-how chocolate as a heritage has been appropriated from Latin America by Big Chocolate
-how Big Chocolate’s poor agricultural practices have impoverished both Latin America AND Africa, and caused so much deforestation
-how important the fermentation process is to the flavor of chocolate
-that there are SO MANY endangered and/or undiscovered varieties of cocao hidden in the wilds of Latin America
-that chocolate making is an art, and it’s endangered by our modern obsession with efficiency
… and so much more!
I highly recommend this book— it has adventure, travel journalism, cultural explanations, the stories of so many people, and a heart for art and nature at its core.
5 ⭐️
CW: mentions of cartels and dr*g trade, infrequent strong language
September 1, 2024
So...I don’t care much for chocolate. Oops, did I just spill the beans? Don’t hate me!
I’ll admit that I would not have read this if it had not been a giveaway. That said, I am glad I took the time to really get in to the book.
Why?
Not only is this book informative, packed with cultural relevance to current and historical events in our country and abroad, but it felt like I was taken on a seriously wild ride. The author writes his story, as well as other pioneers, as they embark on this pivotal adventure. I developed an appreciation for the humble bean, beginning to see it for it’s true significance and yes, magnificence.
For people like me who aren't chocoholics, and for chocolate enthusiasts alike, this is a definite MUST READ!
As someone who doesn’t like chocolate, I can honestly say that now I do.
Shout out to Bloomsbury Publishing for this giveaway!
I’ll admit that I would not have read this if it had not been a giveaway. That said, I am glad I took the time to really get in to the book.
Why?
Not only is this book informative, packed with cultural relevance to current and historical events in our country and abroad, but it felt like I was taken on a seriously wild ride. The author writes his story, as well as other pioneers, as they embark on this pivotal adventure. I developed an appreciation for the humble bean, beginning to see it for it’s true significance and yes, magnificence.
For people like me who aren't chocoholics, and for chocolate enthusiasts alike, this is a definite MUST READ!
As someone who doesn’t like chocolate, I can honestly say that now I do.
Shout out to Bloomsbury Publishing for this giveaway!
September 15, 2024
I had the opportunity to read this book thanks to a Goodreads Giveaway.
There were parts of this book that I loved. How the author described the areas and the people who love cacao more than most could imagine. I loved the passion of the people to not just create great chocolate to keep alive the centuries of tradition, practice and literal growth. I loved how the author’s curiosity was so evident and explored the impact of the commercialization of cacao and chocolate. I learned so much and challenged my thinking.
That being said, the book did feel dragged out throughout the novel. Enough that while I loved so much of the book, it did feel like a text book.
There were parts of this book that I loved. How the author described the areas and the people who love cacao more than most could imagine. I loved the passion of the people to not just create great chocolate to keep alive the centuries of tradition, practice and literal growth. I loved how the author’s curiosity was so evident and explored the impact of the commercialization of cacao and chocolate. I learned so much and challenged my thinking.
That being said, the book did feel dragged out throughout the novel. Enough that while I loved so much of the book, it did feel like a text book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 29, 2024
This is no foodie’s journal of skipping from one chi-chi chocolate shop to another, but a real down-and-dirty foray into the most remote jungles of several diverse Latin American countries in search of the purest and most storied cacao to be discovered. Amidst the sweat and bug bites and predators both human and animal along his circuitous way, Mr. Jacobsen introduces us to a diverse array of entrepreneurial souls both indigenous and foreign-born who, for a variety of motives, share his passion for discovering and harvesting sustainable, heirloom-quality cacao. . .along with a fair number of menacing, distrustful narcos and corrupt politicians thrown into the mix, for bad measure. The author’s impeccable research into the names, dates, and places behind each variety of pod and its eureka moments (or in other cases, sadly, its failure to thrive) make for fascinating reading. The critical ecological importance of this tasty product is not overlooked, either, and Mr. Jacobsen has thoughtfully included an appendix of his favorite purveyors of chocolate-making supplies, mail-order chocolate shops, festivals, etc. This journalist-explorer knows and respects his cacao, and he is equally fond of the folks who persevere to keep the culture alive and well.
May 15, 2025
Our city does a "reads one book" every year and then brings in the author for a lecture in the fall. Wild Chocolate is this year's book. So, I queued up at the library to check it out having no idea what it was about. I was a little bummed in the beginning to realize that it was actually about chocolate because chocolate, prior to the summer of 2022, was a part of my everyday life. But, when I gave up added sugar/sweeteners, chocolate went by the wayside. However, I got caught up in the stories and learned not only about cacao but also the Amazon, and that the chocolate I had loved most of my life was most likely made from the dregs of the chocolate world. After reading this book, I have discovered at least one source of a 100% cacao chocolate bean-to-bar with no added sweeteners that is not only single origin and sustainably sourced but also vegan. Put in my order this morning. Can't wait to see what it tastes like! There was an added bonus in the book to see that researchers from the University of Tennessee were mentioned at one point doing their own research as to what lives in the forest in Belize's Maya Mountains.
December 13, 2025
Wow, fantastic book, compellingly written, with a great balance of biographical and scientific information about the people and plants involved. I'm involved with a vineyard where we are growing a number of grape varieties, and the varietal differences among the grapes is quite pronounced. In addition, some of the best of the grapes we grow are remnant populations from when the vineyard was abandoned 20 years ago. This has all given me keen interest in food forests and permaculture. In a world where we tend to fight nature and pay the price for it later, this discussion of reaping the fruits of nature and empowering native communities gave me an immense boost of hope. The stories were so compelling and the descriptions of the products so vibrant that I had to go to Caputo's and order some Jurua. When a book makes you take action in the real world, you know you've got an amazing book in your hands. Loved this book, and I'm going to go read more by this excellent author.
March 25, 2025
Given the choice between chocolate and something else (like: chocolate cake or lemon cake; chocolate candy or sour candy), I usually choose the "something else." But I like chocolate too, and reading this book makes me excited to try some of the single-origin/bean-to-bar chocolates that Jacobsen writes about (and in fact, I ordered some from Caputo's, a specialty food store that also features in the book). I learned a lot about cacao and its history and where it grows and how chocolate is made from this book, and while I found the structure somewhat disjointed (it jumps around in time and place and there are various interludes/digressions) I liked Jacobsen's writing style, particularly when he's talking about the trips he's taken to places where wild cacao grows, from his trip down the Mamoré River in Bolivia in 2010 to his 2022 trip down the Juruá River in Brazil.
December 26, 2024
I've been telling friends and strangers for many years about the beauty and variety of specialty craft chocolate. That just like how you can taste the subtle nuances of different coffee beans, the same can be said of chocolate. This book landed even deeper for me considering my few months spent in Central America where I got to witness the magic of cacao in person. This bean carries with it so much culture and spiritual significance of its land and its people. Much of this book explores that tradition while also exploring how it meets the modern world in the race to meet demand while also keeping sustainable models for farmers, chocolatiers, and everyone in between. This book felt like both a coming home and a travel expedition wrapped in one.
February 26, 2025
This was a fantastic book that details both the adventurous roots of heirloom chocolate and the sacramental quality of its consumption. While I was vaguely aware of chocolate’s Amazonian birth, I knew nothing about recent research into families of cacao plants and the discovery of wild chocolate varieties still thriving deep in the Amazon jungle. As one chocolate blogger explained “chocolate forms this sort of vortex, and it sucks you in and you keep getting deeper and deeper and before you know it, it’s a chocolate covered world.” Wild Chocolate definitely sucked me in and even had me looking to buy some of this incredibly complex chocolate that, as a chocolate lover, I have yet to experience. If you like chocolate or have spent time in Latin America, I recommend this one! 🍫 ❤️
March 15, 2025
This book serves a big bar of chocolate history! Piece by piece, the book traces the origins of chocolate from South America to Europe and Africa. But it doesn’t end there: this book is about wild chocolate! The author unwraps the aluminum foil wrapper on this niche product that broke countless hearts while elevating spirits. The pages are filled with pure 100% wild beans that journey from the Amazon to those in the know with discerning tastes.
You might get addicted to this strange, mysterious fruit by the time you take the last bite and feel it melting in your mouth.
Great stuff. Recommended buy! So glad that the Astoria Nonfiction Book Club listed it for March, 2025.
Robert Gavila
Astoria, New York
You might get addicted to this strange, mysterious fruit by the time you take the last bite and feel it melting in your mouth.
Great stuff. Recommended buy! So glad that the Astoria Nonfiction Book Club listed it for March, 2025.
Robert Gavila
Astoria, New York
March 17, 2025
Excellent! Learn about cacao and it's many variations. Learn about the history of chocolate, how it is made, what makes some better than others. Learn about what it means to the small farmers who raise unique cacao beans and the problems they encounter with making a living and the dangers the drug trade brings to the same regions.
Jacobsen does all this with an enrapturing writing that kept me interested. The inclusion of stories about people along with the information about cacao enhanced this book. The focus on the small farmers and small businesses, not the big-ag and multinationals, stands out as part of the soul of good chocolate. If you love chocolate, this will only deepen your love and your search for fine, bean to bar, rainforest, heirloom, sustainable, chocolate.
Jacobsen does all this with an enrapturing writing that kept me interested. The inclusion of stories about people along with the information about cacao enhanced this book. The focus on the small farmers and small businesses, not the big-ag and multinationals, stands out as part of the soul of good chocolate. If you love chocolate, this will only deepen your love and your search for fine, bean to bar, rainforest, heirloom, sustainable, chocolate.
December 16, 2025
One of my book clubs selected this book for its December read. I had never come across this book but was eager to jump in and learn a thing or two about chocolate. The best part of this slightly journalistic deep dive into the world of chocolate was that the author made it feel like you went along with him. The author took the reader to the the jungles and remote communities where chocolate has its roots (literally) and provided so much information along the way. Did you know fermentation is part of the chocolate making process? Did you know there is such thing as heirloom cacao? Chocolate is more than a treat, it is a finely crafted treasure meant to be savoured. I now have a newfound appreciation for this indulgence and want to learn (and taste!) more.
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