When I first went raw in 2004 raw cacao was nowhere to be seen and carob was added to sweets and desserts to make them taste chocolatey. Within a year or so raw chocolate hit the market and carob was soon pushed into the background. I too was guilty of forgetting about good ol’ carob and joining the raw chocolate frenzy.
It didn’t take me long to turn back to carob for various reasons. I now use carob in my desserts and smoothies and leave cacao for special occasions.
Carob is a superfood in its own right. It is delicious, loaded with nutrients and it does not contain caffeine or theobromine which are 2 substances found in cacao, thus it doesn’t have the side-effects associated with cacao. In fact there are no known side effects from consuming carob to excess.
Eat as much carob as you like and benefit from a whole range of nutrients such as vitamins A, B1, B2, calcium, magnesium, potassium and trace minerals iron, copper and others. Carob may not contain as much magnesium as cacao, but it does contain three times the calcium. This is why carob is also commonly used as animal feed during the animals (sheep, goats) lactation period.
Carob has a very colourful history, it is native to the Mediterranean and cultivation of the tree started around 4000 years ago. The carob tree is very resilient and grows well in warm temperate and subtropical areas, hence why today it is grown in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and in lots of other parts of the world with similar climates.
The earliest use of carob by the Egyptians, Greeks and the Romans was of course eating the pods raw straight from the tree.
Carob is also known as St Johns bread this is because of its reference in the bible. It is said that St. John the Baptist survived his time in the dessert by eating carob, then known as locust bean.
Finally the seeds were widely used in the past by gold merchants as a measure of weight. The hard carob seeds found inside the pod all weigh the same; 0.015grams. The word carat comes from the word Ceratonia Siliqua, the scientific name for the carob tree, it represents the value of gold as measured by its weight (0.015grams).
Our raw carob powder comes from Italy and is Certified Organic by the Soil Association.
Carob is an invaluable addition to anyones kitchen, it can be added to smoothies, sweets, and dessert. It is naturally sweet and adds a caramel chocolate flavour to any sweet recipe.
- Width
- 170 (mm)
- Depth
- 70 (mm)
- Height
- 300 (mm)
- Weight
- 0.5 (kg)
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