Carob bush is a flowering evergreen tree or shrub in the pea family. It is widely cultivated for its edible pods. The ripe, dried, and sometimes toasted pod is often ground into carob powder, which is used to replace cocoa powder. Carob powder consists of 46% sugar, 7% protein and small amounts of numerous minerals and vitamins and is thus quite nutritious.* Carob powder can be added to cakes, bread, sweets, ice creams or drinks as a flavouring.**/***Carob powder ‘cocoa’ has advantages over chocolate in that has fewer calories and neither caffeine nor theobromine.*/****

Carob pods are naturally sweet and Its flavour is not as rich as dark chocolate but resembles milk chocolate. Carob bars, an alternative to chocolate bars, as well as carob treats, are often available in health food stores.

 

*Whiteside, L. 1981. The carob cookbook. Ed. Thorsons Publishers Limited, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

**NAS. 1979. Tropical Legumes: Resources for the Future, pp. 109-116. National Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, USA.

***Vidal, D. 1985. El troceado como etapa previa al aprovechamiento industrial de la garrofa. In Jornadas sobre la garrofa. Lliria (Valencia) (unpublished).

****Craig, W.J. and T.T. Nguyen. 1984. Caffeine and theobromine levels in cocoa and carob products. J. of Food Sci. 49:302-305.