Carob
Ceratonia siliqua
A Mediterranean tree. Sweet pods are a chocolate-adjacent powder when milled — a different plant from cacao, no theobromine. Locust bean gum is from the seeds (a process).
GROW → HARVEST → EAT → DRY → POWDER → CAPSULE → GUMMY — forms are not equivalent. Food first.
Identity
Also called: St. John's bread
What it is
A Mediterranean tree. Sweet pods are a chocolate-adjacent powder when milled — a different plant from cacao, no theobromine. Locust bean gum is from the seeds (a process).
Edible portions
- pods
Absence of a portion from this list means it is not treated as food here — not that every other part is toxic.
Growing
- Climate. 9–11 dry-summer
- Light. Full sun, drought-tolerant once established
- Soil. Well-drained, even rocky
- Planting. A slow evergreen tree. Some need a pollenizer.
- Harvest. Dry brown pods.
Processing, drying, storage
- Processing. Powder is milled pod. Not cacao. Not automatically ‘healthier chocolate.’
Preparation and culinary uses
- Chew pods, mill into powder as a cocoa extender
Next steps
Sources
- USDA PLANTS Database — taxonomy and range (verify current entries)
- No USDA FoodData Central nutrient profile is attached here. That is not a claim that the plant contains no nutrients.
- State cooperative extension growing guides — verify for your region
Honest incompleteness is preferred to fabricated completeness. If a section is missing, no record for it is attached here — not a claim that the plant lacks that characteristic, and not that it was omitted as a secret.
Internal quality class B. Good foundation: enough unique information to exist as its own destination.