Description
Carob powder has a slightly sweet, mildly chocolate-like and nutty flavour and can be used as a substitute for cocoa powder.
Carob Powder is a traditional food sweetener, used long before sugarcane was harvested and used, carob is often used as a healthier alternative to chocolate.
The carob tree is an evergreen growing to a height of 10 metres with a trunk of around 0.90 metres in circumference, but is more often found growing like a shrub it is a native of south east Europe, western Asia and north Africa.
Although the tree is shrub-like in appearance. The branches of the carob tree sport oval-shaped evergreen leaves dark and glossy on the upper surface and lighter green on the undersides. The flowers are red and fall in clusters. The seedpods are bright green and fleshy when unripe resembling a large flattened pea pod.
They become brown and their chocolate like aroma becomes more intense as they ripen.
Use in cakes, biscuits, muffins and pastries where you would add cocoa; carob is a good substitute for followers of a vegan diet being dairy free and it makes a pleasant alternative to cocoa drinks.
Carob powder can also be used to make syrup which can be poured on pancakes and cereals.
Additionally, carob contains no theobromine, a substance found in chocolate that is poisonous to some mammals, including dogs, so carob can be used to make sweet treats for dogs.