ripe carob pods
What is carob?
We live in La Garrofera in the Provence of Valencia. La Garrofera means – ‘land of the carob‘. To prove that, we have two giant carob trees in our garden and there are hundreds of carob trees all around us. But what is carob? What can you do with it? I know one thing about the carob – horses love them. Every year the local gypsies come around and ask to clear up the garden of carobs to feed the horse. No problem with that. The only thing is they not only clear up the carobs – they clear off with anything else they can find. So we soon put a stop to that little game.
Ceratonia siliqua, commonly known as the Carob tree and St John’s-bread, is a species of flowering evergreen shrub or tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible legumes, and as an ornamental tree in gardens. The seed pod may be crushed and used as a substitute for chocolate.
It is native to the Mediterranean region including Southern Europe, Northern Africa, the larger Mediterranean islands; to the Levant and Middle-East of Western Asia into Iran; and to the Canary Islands and Macaronesia.
The Ceratonia siliqua tree grows up to 10 metres (33 ft) tall. The crown is broad and semi-spherical, supported by a thick trunk with brown rough bark and sturdy branches. Leaves are 10 to 20 centimetres (3.9 to 7.9 in) long, alternate, pinnate, and may or may not have a terminal leaflet. It is frost-tolerant.
Most carob trees are dioecious. The trees blossom in autumn (September–October). The flowers are small and numerous, spirally arranged along the inflorescence axis incatkin-like racemes borne on spurs from old wood and even on the trunk (cauliflory); they are pollinated by both wind and insects. Male flowers produce a characteristic odour, resembling semen.
The fruit is a pod that can be elongated, compressed, straight or curved, and thickened at the sutures. The pods take a full year to develop and ripen. The ripe pods eventually fall to the ground and are eaten by various mammals, thereby dispersing the seed. Likewise, carob consumed by humans is actually the dried (and sometimes roasted) pod, and not the ‘nuts’ or seeds.
The seeds of Ceratonia siliqua contains leucodelphinidin, a colourless chemical compound. The carob genus, Ceratonia, belongs to the Fabaceae (legume) family, and is believed to be an archaic remnant of a part of this family now generally considered extinct. It grows well in warm temperate and subtropical areas, and tolerates hot and humid coastal areas. As a xerophytic (drought-resistant) species, carob is well adapted to the ecological conditions of the Mediterranean region. Trees prefer well drained loam and are intolerant of waterlogging, but the deep root systems can adapt to a wide variety of soil conditions and are fairly salt-tolerant.
While previously not believed to form nitrogen fixation nodules typical of the legume family, trees have been identified more recently with nodules containing bacteria believed to be from the Rhizobiumgenus.
Although used extensively for agriculture, carob can still be found growing wild in eastern Mediterranean regions, and has become naturalized in the west. The carob tree is typical in the southern Portuguese region of the Algarve, where it has the name alfarrobeira (for the tree), and alfarroba (for the fruit), as well as in southern Spain (Spanish: algarrobo, algarroba), Catalonia and Valencia(Catalan: garrofer, garrofa), Malta (Maltese: ?arruba), on the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia (Italian: carrubo, carruba), and in Southern Greece, Cyprus as well as many Greek islands such as Crete and Samos.
Etymology
Ceratonia siliqua, the scientific name of the carob tree, derives from the Greek keráti?n, “fruit of the carob” (from keras “horn”), and Latin siliqua “pod, carob.” The term “carat”, the unit by which gem weight is measured, is also derived from the Greek word keráti?n, alluding to an ancient practice of weighing gold and gemstones against the seeds of the carob tree by people in the Middle East. The system was eventually standardized, and one carat was fixed at 0.2 grams.
In late Roman times, the pure gold coin known as the solidus weighed 24 carat seeds (about 4.5 grams). As a result, the carat also became a measure of purity for gold. Thus 24-carat gold means 100% pure, 12-carat gold means the alloy contains 50% gold, etc.
Subsistence on carob pods is mentioned in the Talmud: Berakhot reports that Rabbi Haninah subsisted on carob pods. It is probably also mentioned in the New Testament, in which Matthew 3:4 reports that John the Baptist subsisted on “locusts and wild honey”; the Greek word translated “locusts” may refer to carob pods, rather than to grasshoppers. Again, in Luke 15:16, when the Prodigal Son is in the field in spiritual and social poverty, he desires to eat the pods that he is feeding to the swine because he is suffering from starvation. The use of the carob during a famine is likely a result of the carob tree’s resilience to the harsh climate and drought. During a famine, the swine were given carob pods so that they would not be a burden on the farmer’s limited resources.
During the Second World War, it was common for the people of Malta to eat dried carob pods and prickly pears as a supplement to rationed food. Carob is typically dried or roasted, and is mildly sweet. In powdered, chip, or syrup form it is used as an ingredient in cakes and cookies, and is used as a substitute for chocolate.
Carob does not contain theobromine, an alkaloid found in chocolate which is toxic to some pets and can be fatal to dogs and cats. This is why carob is used to make chocolate-flavoured treats for dogs. The seeds, also known as locust beans, are used as animal feed, and are the source of locust bean gum — a food thickening agent. Crushed pods may be used to make a beverage; compote, liqueur, and syrup are made from carob in Turkey, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sicily. Several studies suggest that carob may aid in treating diarrhea in infants. In Libya, carob syrup (there called rub) is used as a complement to Asida. The so-called carob syrup made in Peru is actually from the fruit of the Prosopis nigra tree.
Cultivation
Ceratonia siliqua is widely cultivated in the horticultural nursery industry as an ornamental plant for planting in Mediterranean climate and other temperate regions around the world, as its popularity inCalifornia and Hawaii shows. The plant develops a sculpted trunk and ornamental tree form when ‘limbed up’ as it matures, otherwise it is used as a dense and large screening hedge. When not grown for legume harvests the plant is very drought tolerant and part of ‘xeriscape’ landscape design for gardens, parks, and public municipal and commercial landscapes.
Cultural significance
The Jewish Talmud features a parable of altruism, commonly known as “Honi and the Carob Tree”, in which a carob tree takes 70 years to bear fruit; the planter did not benefit from planting, but did so in the interest of future generations.
In reality, the fruiting age of carob trees varies: cuttings taken from fruit-bearing trees may bear fruit in as few as three to four years, and seedlings grown in ideal conditions may fruit within six to eight years. Although it is native to moderately dry climates, two or three summers irrigation will greatly aid the development, hasten fruiting, and increase the yield.”
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Prodigal Son, having squandered his inheritance, wishes that he could also partake in eating the pigs’ diet of carob pods.
Traditional uses. Carob was eaten in Ancient Egypt. It was also a common sweetener and was used in the hieroglyph for “sweet” (nedjem). Dried carob fruit is traditionally eaten on the Jewish holiday of Tu Bishvat. Carob juice drinks are traditionally drunk during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Also it is believed to be an aphrodisiac.
In Cyprus, the carob syrup is known as Cyprus’s black gold, and is widely exported. In Malta, a syrup (?ulepp tal-?arrub) is made out of carob pods. This is a traditional medicine for coughs and sore throat. A traditional sweet, eaten during Lent and Good Friday, is also made from carob pods in Malta. However, carob pods were mainly used as animal fodder in the Maltese Islands, apart from times of famine or war when they formed part of the diet of many Maltese.
In the Iberian Peninsula, carob pods were used mainly as animal fodder, especially to feed donkeys. Carob pods were an important source of sugar before sugarcane and sugar beets became widely available.
Carob in cookery
Carob is a power made from the carob pod and is commonly used as a substitute for chocolate. Carob pods are dried and the pulp of the plant is roasted and ground into powder, which can be used in baking or to make carob chips, which are an alternative to chocolate chips. Carob is not as bitter as cocoa, although it has some background flavours in common with it, but it does have a distinctly vegetal note to it that takes a bit of getting used to.
Carob doesn’t contain any caffeine or theobromine, two mild stimulants found in chocolate, which means that it is popular with people looking for chocolate substitutes. It went through a period of being hugely in vogue in the 1970s, but is a bit less commonly seen these days. It also lacks the antioxidants found in chocolate, so people are much more likely to dark about dark chocolate as a health food than carob these days.
Still, carob is readily available in natural food stores as both non-chocolate carob chips and as carob powder. Both can be used in recipes in much the same way as real chocolate chips and cocoa powder can be, for a not-quite-chocolatey treat that uses no chocolate. It is worth noting, however, that carob chips will start to burn at a lower temperature than chocolate chips will, so keep that in mind if using them for a batch of cookies,
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