From oblivion to superfood: a delicious story
With the arrival of autumn, the imposing carob trees reveal the dark pods hanging from their green branches. Although Spain is the world’s leading producer of carob, the Valencian Community is the top producing region and Baix Maestrat the epicentre of its production, for many it remains largely unknown, and in recent decades the crop has suffered a serious decline and abandonment—until everything changed.
The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) had, until fairly recently, been valued for its versatility and hardiness, as it grows in any soil near the coast and withstands drought well, adapting to land that would otherwise be bare or unproductive.
The word that names the genus, Ceratonia, comes from the Greek Keras (horn), as the appearance, shape and consistency of the fruit resemble a horn.
Carob is a legume that has been used by humans for centuries, and its cultivation spread throughout the Mediterranean basin. From Egypt it passed to Greece and from there to Italy. The Phoenicians and Arabs spread it along the North African coast, from where it reached Spain—a country that has used its seeds to make livestock flour and its pods to produce spirits, syrups and medicinal poultices.
But if there is one feature that makes the carob tree unique in the plant kingdom, it is the uniformity of its seeds: because they all weigh very similarly, close to 0.2 grams, they were used as the first unit or standard for measuring the weight of gems and precious stones, and the Arabs called it Qirat, which passed into Spanish as quilate (carat).
More recently, during the Spanish Civil War, it was widely used to fight hunger and malnutrition due to its high energy value, which is why it was stigmatised as “poor people’s food”.
Its toasted, fruity flavour—slightly bitter and sweet at the same time—resembles chocolate so much that in the post-war years it was very popular with children, as there were no resources to buy imported cocoa.
However, few people know that it is an excellent natural food that recent research has reappraised for its incredible properties—specifically for providing the fabulous compound D-pinitol, with anticancer, antidiabetic, antioxidant and slimming effects, among other applications.
Truly a tree that’s worth its weight in gold.
Discover the many culinary uses of carob and the millennia-old culture of its cultivation in El Maestrat in the unique themed experience Ruta de la algarroba this October
All information and bookings here: www.exploramaestrat.com
