Kick the Chocolate for Carob

June 14, 2009

If you are into health foods, you’ve surely heard of and already indulged in the famous chocolate substitute called carob.  Incredibly, Ceratonia siliqua or carob trees have a long history, having been farmed in the Middle East for 4,000 years.  The Jewish people in the region eat their edible pods on Tu B’shevat, a Jewish holiday which celebrates trees. Carob is also a traditional food plant in Africa, and this little-known fruit may have the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare. Wow, all that from an ancient fruit!  But there’s more.

After drying, the fruit’s pulp is roasted and ground into a powder that resembles cocoa powder.  Both come from a tropical pod but have different flavors (the pods which hold cacao beans are processed to make cocoa powder and chocolate too).  But carob has some great virtues when compared to cocoa.  1 tablespoon of unsweetened carob powder has 25 calories, no fat, no saturated fat, no cholesterol, and 6 grams carbohydrate and 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder contains 12 calories, 1 gram of fat, no saturated fat, no cholesterol, and 3 grams of carbohydrate. But  unlike cocoa powder and chocolate, carob is caffeine-free and it also contains three times as much calcium as cocoa powder. Unsweetened carob powder is naturally sweeter than cocoa but carob is not as flavorful as chocolate. To substitute carob powder for cocoa powder, replace one part cocoa with 2-1/2 parts carob powder by weight.  I love carob chips when substituted for chocolate chips in recipes for beverages and baked goods. But if you decide to include carob in your meal plan, be sure to read the labels as you’ll want to know what was added to the carob product and what the calorie, fat, and carbohydrate counts of the product are too.

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