Carob: Not a substitute for chocolate

It’s not a question of carob vs chocolate and if you try to palm off carob to a chocolate lover as a chocolate substitute, prepare to get your head snapped off. Yes, it is possible to like both, especially since carob adapts so well to the role chocolate tends to play culinarily, but it deserves respect as itself and not a bogus chocolate. There are many similarities between the two. They both grow on trees but cacao is a tropical jungle plant and carob is adapted to the Mediterranean climate and originated in the Middle East. They both have amazing nutritional qualities, but chocolate, because it is processed in so many more ways, tends to be more compromised in that respect. They both grow as seed of their respective fruits; the carob in a long pod, and the cacao inside a large fruit. The carob pod is processed into a brown powder which is used in baking and to make a hot drink. Carob is naturally sweeter than chocolate and has a very mellow flavor.

The carob tree is unusual for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is a legume, just like peas, beans, and peanuts. The pod the carob ‘beans’ grow in resembles a giant bean pod. In fact, it is the flesh of the pod that is processed into carob powder. The seeds have a variety of uses. I don’t know if they’re still there, but there used to be carob trees planted along the streets in the older parts of Anaheim, CA., the intention being to provide emergency rations in difficult times!

Carob really deserves another look. Even though it is used mainly by people who are allergic to chocolate, there is no reason why anybody can’t just enjoy it. It may be a little hard to find, but once you do, and you make your first batch of carob brownies, you may come to be almost as fond of it as chocolate. Well, maybe not. But carob is delicious in its own right.

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