The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree


Book Description

If you liked The Golden Compass and The Chronicles of Narnia, be prepared to fall in love with mythic fantasy all over again. The Jaguar and the Cacao Tree pulls you into a mesmerizing world that blurs the lines between science, mythology, and the hidden magic of nature most adults find all but impossible. One of the world's authorities on chocolate, the C-Spot, calls the book "a strong contender for the best [chocolate] title in the last 5 years." When American-born Max and Maya-born Itzel open the pods of the Sacred Cacao Tree one night, they unwittingly unleash forces that threaten the past and future of the world's most desirable food-- and awaken two mythic beasts guarding the very DNA of chocolate. This book is perfect for book club discussions. A sequel, a coloring book, and an interactive game are all in the works for fans. "A mesmerizing, imaginative smorgasbord of facts and fantasy blended into a charming tale." - AllenYoung, PhD, Curator Emeritus, Milwaukee Public Museum and author of The Chocolate Tree.




The Chocolate Tree


Book Description

The god Kukulkan decides to give the Mayan people the gift of chocolate, the favorite food of the gods, but when Kukulkan 's brother Night Jaguar tells the other gods what he has done Kukulkan is banned from paradise forever.




Chocolate in Mesoamerica


Book Description

New models of research and analysis, as well as breakthroughs in deciphering Mesoamerican writing, have recently produced a watershed of information on the regional use and importance of cacao, or chocolate as it is commonly called today. McNeil brings together scholars in the fields of archaeology, history, art history, linguistics, epigraphy, botany, chemistry, and cultural anthropology to explore the domestication, preparation, representation, and significance of cacao in ancient and modern communities of the Americas, with a concentration on its use in Mesoamerica. Cacao was used by many cultures in the pre-Columbian Americas as an important part of rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage, and death, and was strongly linked with concepts of power and rulership. While Europeans have for hundreds of years claimed that they introduced “chocolate” as a sauce for foods, evidence from ancient royal tombs indicates cacao was used in a range of foods as well as beverages in ancient times. In addition, the volume’s authors present information that supports a greater importance for cacao in pre-Columbian South America, where ancient vessels depicting cacao pods have recently been identified. From the botanical structure and chemical makeup of Theobroma cacao and methods of identifying it in the archaeological record, to the importance of cacao during the Classic period in Mesoamerica, to the impact of European arrival on the production and use of cacao, to contemporary uses in the Americas, this volume provides a richly informed account of the history and cultural significance of chocolate.




The Serpent and the Jaguar


Book Description

Every once in while, a work comes along that breaks through convention and fuses worlds and cultures. The Serpent and the Jaguar is one such work: it transcends the conventional interpretations of the Mayan Tzolk’in calendar and fuses the worlds of traditional Mayan cosmovision, scholarly research, and modern-day needs and concerns. The result is a book that enables virtually anyone anywhere in the world living in industrialized society to apply the Tzolk’in to their lives on a daily basis. For the first time, The Serpent and the Jaguar brings you the Tzolk’in and all of its 260 days interpreted in the context of modern life and modern challenges. The book is the cornerstone in a suite of related tools that include mobile applications, webinars and a strong social media platform designed to help you redefine your relationship with sacred, cyclical time in the face of our demanding, stressful schedules that force us to operate on linear time. Included in the book are: • The full set of the 260 Energies of the Day of the Tzolk’in calendar. • Detailed descriptions of the 20 trecenas and their ruling day signs. • Detailed descriptions of the 13 numbers. • Introductory sections on the Mayan Calendar, the day signs, trecenas, and the numbers. • A guide to living with sacred time • Mayan Calendar tables to calculate dates manually or offline. • Original day sign illustrations by New Zealand painter and artist Maree Gifkins (along with the traditional Maya day sign and number glyphs).




Jaguars and Butterflies


Book Description

Jaguars and Butterflies presents an enchanting world of artwork and poetry for girls of Mexican heritage. It is a celebration of strength and diversity with spectacular images highlighting cultures, art, and geography in Mexico.




The New Taste of Chocolate


Book Description

Updated with new chapters on the environmental and geopolitical impact of cacao production and the latest health findings, a visual reference incorporates new photography and 30 original or revised recipes for chocolate foods ranging from the sweet to the savory.




One Cacao Tree


Book Description

TREE TO BAR CHOCOLATE We've grown cacao since 2010, but cacao and chocolate became my obsession during the Stay-At-Home days during the pandemic. Before dawn I tempered and molded chocolate. In the daytime I took care of my trees and the trees at the University of Hawai'i, Hilo. I explored methods of fermenting cacao bean in tiny batches and making chocolate bean to bar. I chatted with experts, took online classes, and read books and scientific papers. This book is a synthesis of everything I've learned. It explains how to make chocolate from tree-to-bar and beyond. Covering topics of growing & harvesting, simple tiny fermentations, and chocolate & confections making, this book will bring more cacao into your life. It is written with small scale cacao tree growers and amateur chocolate makers in mind, but has been well-received by chocolate enthusiasts everywhere. Inside you will find: • savory and sweet recipes for every step of the process • ways to ferment a tiny amount of cacao seeds • a primer on basic chocolate making skills • tricks for tempering chocolate in a tropical climate • inspiration for using locally grown ingredients • guidance to tasting chocolate • encouragement to experiment and play CHAPTER LIST Introduction One Cacao Pod Tree to Bar Chocolate Growing & Harvesting Unfermented Fermenting Drying Roasting & Winnowing Grinding Tempering In the Tropics Molding and Dipping Flavor & Tasting A Bad Batch? Canoe Plants Rituals Reader feedback: "Order this book! If you love chocolate, there's always something new to learn. Not just for chocolate makers! An approachable, fun softcover book where the aloha spirit spills out the moment you open the cover." - Barb Genuario, @chocochaser on Instagram "Wow! What an awesome book! I read it cover to cover... I have a newfound appreciation for chocolate making. I especially loved the different recipes for making things at every stage of the process and utilizing much of the pod along the way. While I likely won't be making tree to treat chocolates, it did open my eyes to what chocolate actually is." - Brandon, chocolate-eater in Seattle, WA "My favorite book on chocolate and cacao ever." - Mackenzie Rivers, MAP Chocolate and The Next Batch chocolate school




The Jaguar's Heart


Book Description

Based on a true story, The Jaguar's Heart brings to life the first encounter of Maya and European in the 16th century. It tells the story of Gonzalo Guerrero, a Spanish sailor shipwrecked on the coast of Yucatan in 1511, between Columbus' discovery of the Americas and Cortez' conquest of Mexico. Maya lords enslave Guerrero and his fellow castaways, but he eventually gains his freedom. Encountering Ix Chan Can, the beautiful younger sister of the Maya lord Nachan Can, Guerrero chooses to remain among her people and win her love. Guerrero earns renown in a war against Nachan Can's enemies, and finally Ix Chan Can's hand. After they have two children, the only other still-living castaway, the clergyman Jeronimo de Aguilar, brings word of Cortez' landing. Guerrero refuses to rejoin his countrymen, cleaving to his family. But with Aguilar as interpreter, Cortez conquers the Aztecs, and the Spaniards inevitably return to impose their rule and religion on the Maya. Nachan Can now demands that Guerrero fight, and at last accepting that he must do so to protect his family, Guerrero tragically stakes his life for his adoptive people against ever-mounting odds. The Jaguar's Heart reveals the struggle of a man caught between cultures and conflicting loyalties at a pivotal moment in the history of the Americas. It is a book with the captivating setting of Gary Jennings' Aztec and its sequels, yet which reveals the humanity of both Spaniard and Indian, and with the compelling theme of W. Michael Gear and Kathleen O'Neal Gear's Contact: The Battle for America series.




Understories: Plants and Culture in the American Tropics


Book Description

Understories: Plants and Culture in the American Tropics establishes the central importance of plants to the histories and cultures of the extended tropical region stretching from the U.S. South to Argentina. Through close examination of a number of significant plants – cacao, mate, agave, the hevea brasilensis, kudzu, the breadfruit, soy, and the ceiba pentandra, among others – this volume shows that vegetal life has played a fundamental role in shaping societies and in formulating cultural and environmental imaginaries in and beyond the region. Drawing on a wide range of cultural traditions and forms across literature, popular music, art, and film, the essays included in this volume transcend regional and linguistic boundaries to bring together multiple plant-centred histories or ‘understories’ – narratives that until now have been marginalized or gone unnoticed. Attending not only to the significant influence of humans on plants, but also of plants on humans, this book offers new understandings of how colonization, globalization, and power were, and continue to be, imbricated with nature in the American tropics.




Popol Vuh


Book Description

One of the most extraordinary works of the human imagination and the most important text in the native languages of the Americas, Popul Vuh: The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life was first made accessible to the public 10 years ago. This new edition retains the quality of the original translation, has been enriched, and includes 20 new illustrations, maps, drawings, and photos.