One of our recent recipes, Raspberry and Carob Chip Pancakes, included carob chips as an ingredient. We weren’t sure how many people would be familiar with carob, as we were not ourselves until a few years ago. We were introduced to it by the Nutritionist through whom we did an elimination diet to identify food sensitivities, and now, for those of you who may not be familiar with it, we’d like to introduce it to you.
Carob is often used as a substitute for chocolate. While it has a striking resemblance to chocolate in appearance and even taste, it differs tremendously nutritionally. Our first taste of carob was in a Mud Pears recipe that our Nutritionist gave us to use during the strictest phase of her elimination diet. Having not had chocolate in at least a few weeks, I thought it tasted very similar. If you eat it alongside of chocolate, you can definitely pick up on the differences. But in certain recipes, it really blends well with other ingredients in such a way that it tastes very much like chocolate.
The first question you may be thinking is… why would you want to use carob instead of chocolate? For starters, it is naturally caffeine-free! Some other facts include:
- It contains 21% protein. (A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition, Encyclopedia.com)
- It only has 1.5% fat. (A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition, Encyclopedia.com)
- The seeds of its fruit are sometimes used as a substitute for coffee beans. (World Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia.com)
Additionally, according to a September, 1994 Children’s Digest article (Encyclopedia.com), Better than Chocolate, its fat content (1.5%) is one-hundredth the amount found in chocolate and it has only half the calories, it is naturally sweet whereas chocolate is sweetened with sugar, it’s easy to digest, and it provides nutritional value through protein, minerals, and vitamins A and B, unlike chocolate. Another interesting fact from The Colubmia Encyclopedia (Encyclopedia.com) is that it is believed that carob may have actually been what John the Baptist was eating in the wilderness, referred to as “locust,” in the Bible (Mark 1:6).
Some migraine sufferers have suspected chocolate as a migraine trigger, although, scientific research has not shown a connection consistently. For us, it could be problematic for The Well-Fed Son, as it is high in amines. He reacted strongly to amines when we challenged them through the elimination diet. Many different types of foods contain moderate to high levels of amines, so we have to monitor how much of these foods he gets overall day-to-day. We have determined it best to generally avoid chocolate with him, because there are other foods much more nutritious that are also high in amines that we would rather him have regularly instead, such as tomatoes, which also happens to be one of his favorite foods.
Carob can be found at some health food stores and comes in a variety of forms, including powder, chips, and bars. If chocolate causes problems for you, if you suspect it may, or if you enjoy chocolate but are open to a healthier alternative, try carob. We like it and would have switched to eating it sooner had we known about it sooner.
(Update) -Â Click here for all of our carob recipes.
About the Author
Adopted at age 2, grew up in the Charlotte, NC area. Obtained Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Appalachian State University. Loves being a Mom of two and taste-testing Chef John's culinary creations and sharing them with readers.
Comments