Delicious, lethal, hallucinogenic and medicinal, fruits have led nations to war, fueled dictatorships and lured people into new worlds. An expedition through the fascinating world of fruit, The Fruit Hunters is the engrossing story of some of Earth's most desired foods.

In lustrous prose, Adam Leith Gollner draws readers into a Willy Wonka-like world with mangoes that taste like piña coladas, orange cloudberries, peanut butter fruits and the miracle fruit that turns everything sour to sweet, making lemons taste like lemonade. Peopled with a cast of characters as varied and bizarre as the fruit — smugglers, inventors, explorers and epicures — this extraordinary book unveils the mysterious universe of fruit, from the jungles of Borneo to the prized orchards of Florida's fruit hunters to American supermarkets.

Gollner examines the fruits we eat and explains why we eat them (the scientific, economic and aesthetic reasons); traces the life of mass-produced fruits (how they are created, grown and marketed) and explores the underworld of fruits that are inaccessible, ignored and even forbidden in the Western world.

An intrepid journalist and keen observer of nature — both human and botanical — Adam Leith Gollner has written a vivid tale of horticultural obsession.

"Gollner's narrative tends to ramble, but it's quite pleasant....A fresh, juicy and highly satisfying treat." Kirkus Reviews

"Despite their seeming naturalness, many common fruits would be unknown or extinct without human intervention in grafting, breeding, and conservation." Booklist

Gollner takes readers on a fascinating journey through the world of fruit — from the jungles of Borneo to American supermarkets — in this broadly appealing and vividly written tale of horticultural obsession.

Delicious, lethal, hallucinogenic and medicinal, fruits have led nations to war, fueled dictatorships and lured people into new worlds. An expedition through the fascinating world of fruit, The Fruit Hunters is the engrossing story of some of Earth's most desired foods.

In lustrous prose, Adam Leith Gollner draws readers into a Willy Wonka-like world with mangoes that taste like piña coladas, orange cloudberries, peanut butter fruits and the miracle fruit that turns everything sour to sweet, making lemons taste like lemonade. Peopled with a cast of characters as varied and bizarre as the fruit — smugglers, inventors, explorers and epicures — this extraordinary book unveils the mysterious universe of fruit, from the jungles of Borneo to the prized orchards of Florida's fruit hunters to American supermarkets.

Gollner examines the fruits we eat and explains why we eat them (the scientific, economic and aesthetic reasons); traces the life of mass-produced fruits (how they are created, grown and marketed) and explores the underworld of fruits that are inaccessible, ignored and even forbidden in the Western world.

An intrepid journalist and keen observer of nature — both human and botanical — Adam Leith Gollner has written a vivid tale of horticultural obsession.

Prologue Blame It on Brazil
Introduction The Fruit Underworld

Part 1 Nature

1 Wild, Ripe and Juicy: What Is a Fruit?
2 Hawaiian Ultraexotics
3 How Fruits Shaped Us
4 The Rare Fruit Council International

Part 2 Adventure

5 Into Borneo
6 The Fruitarians
7 The Lady Fruit
8 Seedy: The Fruitleggers

Part 3 Commerce

9 Marketing: From Grapples to Gojis
10 Miraculin: The Story of the Miracle Fruit
11 Mass Production: The Geopolitics of Sweetness
12 Permanent Global Summertime

Part 4 Obsession

13 Preservation: The Passion of the Fruit
14 The Case of the Fruit Detective
15 Making Contact with the Otherworld
16 Fruition: Or the Fever of Creation

Acknowledgments
Further Reading
Index