Carob, St John’s bread, locust bean Ceratonia siliqua

Carob, St John’s bread, locust bean Ceratonia siliqua

O R I G I N A N D C U LT I VAT I O N Carob is native to southeastern Europe and western Asia, with a possible origin in Persia.

It is cultivated in a number of Mediterranean countries (e.g. Greece,Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Israel), and trials of the plant have been carried out in California and Mexico. Selection of the crop has resulted in several superior cultivars (varieties).

P L A N T   D E S C R I P T I O N
It is a dome-shaped evergreen tree growing to 15 m (50 ft) in height, with pinnate compound leaves consisting of 6–10 oval leaflets of leathery texture. The very small flowers are greenish or reddish and may be
male, female, or have both types of sex organs. Its fruit is a fleshy, dark brown, oblong, flattened pod of up to 25 cm (10 in) long and 2.5 cm (1 in) wide, containing 10–12 black hard seeds within a soft,
brownish pulp. The pod is the plant part of economic importance.
 

C U L I N A R Y   A N D   N U T R I T I O N A L   VA L U E
Carob fruits were the ‘locusts’ eaten by John the Baptist. Because of their uniform size, the seeds were the original ‘carat’ weights used by jewellers. The pod normally contains 40–50% sugars; sucrose
and fructose are the major ones, but there are some other sugars present. In addition there is a wide range of chemical constituents, including proteins, amino acids, fats, and starch.
The seed contains protein, fats, tannins, a gum (galactomannan), and some other constituents.
Carob extract is obtained from the dried ripe pod (roasted or unroasted), and carob flour from the pulp or
whole pod. The extract or flour are used, often as flavour constituents, in a very wide variety of foods, e.g. imitation chocolate, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, meat products, biscuits, and confectionery. It is widely used in health food products. Carob is appreciated as a chocolate substitute by many who distrust true chocolate, presum ably because of its fat and alkaloid contents.
The gum (galactomannan) extracted from the seed is used as a stabilizer for ice-cream, and as a thickener in
many products, e.g. some foods, pharmaceuticals, detergents, and adhesives. Crushed (kibbled) pods have often been included in animal feed, presumably because of their sweet flavour. For the same reason, there have been situations, at least in the past, when children bought these pods as confectionery.

C L A I M S   A N D   F O L K L O R E
In traditional medicine, the flour has been used to treat diarrhoea in babies, and catarrhal infections have been
treated with decoctions of the pods.

E V I D E N C E
No experimental evidence has been located.