|
Carob powder (Ceratonia siliqua)
-
The carob
tree belongs to the pea family of plants (Leguminosae). It is from an
ancient branch of this plant family. Most other members of this branch are
extinct.
-
Like peas
and beans, the carob bears its seeds in pods. They take a year to mature
and then they are very hard and dry.
-
Carob powder
is simply the ground up dry seeds from the carob tree.
-
Carob powder
can be used instead some or all of the cacao powder (raw chocolate powder)
in many raw food recipes. You may prefer not to use too much cacao.
-
The seeds
are also known as locust beans. The tree is deep rooted and survives in
drought. In times of famine, the seeds were still available, and maybe
that has something to do with this name.
-
The carob
seeds have a consistent weight, and so they were used in ancient times as
weights.
-
The weight
of a carob seed was known as a carat. In Roman times there was a pure gold
coin that weighed exactly 24 seeds and so this was 24 carat gold. If such
a coin was only three quarters its weight in gold then this would be an18
carat gold coin. This terminology is still used today. Not raw food I
know, but interesting!
Links
|
|
carob tree, Crete 2008
Carob powder
|
