People who don't know carob very well think it's a health food shop version of chocolate, but it's sooo much more! We actually love to mix carob with raw chocolate for a lovely sweet, high calcium treat. Chocolate has lots of magnesium, carob has lots of calcium. They dance together in a tasty delight on your tongue.

Carob is a legume that comes from the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), an evergreen tree native to the Mediterranean (it is actually a shrub that is trained into tree form by pruning). Today it is also grown in other warm climates including Florida and the southwestern United States. Ours comes from Turkey, and is wild, unsprayed and nutrient-dense. The tree bears fruit (carob pods) after six to eight years of growth, and can easily bear 100 pounds of pods per year by its twelfth year, increasing to an average of 200 to 250 pounds annually as the tree grows older. It can continue to bear fruit for 100 years.

Carob pods are nature's first confectionery bar! Just bite into it, spit the seeds out, and chew! It has a chocolate-like flavour but is naturally sweeter than cacao beans.

The pods are reddish-brown and can be up to a foot long. Carob has been used for food for over 5000 years. It is also called honey locust or St. John's Bread as this was consumed by John the Baptist while he was in the wilderness (Matt. 3:4). The husks that were eaten by the Prodigal Son in Jesus' parable (Luke 15:16) were discarded carob pods. The word carat, which is still used today to measure gold and diamonds, comes from the Arabic name for the carob seeds because of their uniformity in weight.

Carob is very nutritious. Carob contains as much Vitamin B1 as asparagus or strawberries; as much niacin as lima beans, lentils, or peas; and more Vitamin A than aubergine, asparagus, and beetroots. It also contains Vitamin B2, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and the trace minerals iron, manganese, chromium, copper, and nickel. It contains approximately 8 percent protein and is a good source of fibre. Compared to chocolate, carob is three times richer in calcium, has one third less calories and seventeen times less fat.

Organically grown from South Australia.

Sizes Available:  250 grams ($10.95), 500gm ($17.50)