CHOCOLATE TREE"The Chocolate Tree chronicles the natural and cultural history of Theobroma cacao and explores its ecological niche. Tracing cacao's "journey" out of the rain forest, into pre-Columbian gardens, and then onto plantations adjacent to rain forests, Allen M. Young describes the production of this essential crop, explaining how the seeds are extracted from the large, colorful pods. He details the environmental price of Europeanized cultivation, and ways that current reclamation efforts for New World rain forests can improve the natural ecology of the cacao tree." "Recounting more than a dozen years of ecological fieldwork in and around cacao plantations in Costa Rica, Young reviews his research into the problem of poor levels of natural pollination on plantations. He recalls encounters with sloths, toucans, butterflies, giant tarantula hawk wasps, and other creatures found in cacao groves. Among these creatures Young discovered a tiny fly that provides a vital link between the chocolate tree and its original rain forest habitat. This discovery leads him to conclude that cacao trees in cultivation today may have lost their original insect pollinators due to the plants' long history of agricultural manipulation."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
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The chocolate tree: a natural history of cacao
User Review - Not Available - Book VerdictAre you a chocoholic? Welcome to avery large club. Young here updates his 1994 sociological history of the cacao tree and the magic beans it produces. Those beans have been used as food, drink, and ... Read full review
Contents
The Cultivation of Cacao Past and Present | 14 |
Cacao and Agriculture in Costa Rica | 48 |
Excursions into the Natural History of Cacao and Cacao Plantations | 80 |
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5th Dalai Lama agricultural Amdo areas Avalokitesvara banana betan Bhutan Bonpo Buddha Buddhist cacao flowers cacao plantations cacao trees celibate centers Central America central Tibet century ch'dpa Chapter Chinese chocolate clerical cocoa context Costa Rica cultivation cultural patterns Dalai Lama Derge developed Dingri Dorje Drugpa Dzogch'en early Ekvall Enlightenment floral oils gall midges Gelugpa Geshe gompa Guru Rimpoch'e Indian insects K'am Kagyiidpa Kagyudpa Karma Ladakh Lama's Lhasa Lhasa government lineages Lola Madhyamaka Mahayana meditation Milarepa monastery monastic gompa monks nature Nepal Norbu Nyingmapa pods political pollination practitioners premodern rain forest rebirth region reincarnate lama religious Rimed Rimed movement ritual rulers Sakya Sakyapa seeds shamanic Sherpa siddhas Snellgrove species Sutras T1bet Tantra Tantric Tantric deities Tantric practice teachings terma terton texts Theobroma Theravadin Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan religion Tibetan societies tion tradition trapa tropical trulku Trungpa Tsongk'apa Vajrayana village wild cacao yogic yogins