Maravelia Olive Oil & Tours

The carob tree: the Mediterranean beauty,

the anti-cancer food that contains more calcium than milk and is gluten-free

I grew up in Elika Laconia, which is located in the southeast of the Peloponnese. The climate here is dry and it does not rain a lot. The soil is stony and yet rich in valuable ingredients. Our climate and the soil are therefore very suitable for the carob tree to thrive.

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) is evergreen, grows slowly and is a native tree that grows next to olive trees and cypresses in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea. I can still remember how I nibbled its fruits – pods (or ξυλοκέρατο, in ancient Greek κεράτιον) – as a child because I found them sweet and tasty. If you shake the pods, you can hear the rattling of the seeds. This sound was fascinating to me as a kid and I played with it like it was a rattle.

The ancient Greeks discovered that the seeds of the carob tree have a relatively constant weight of around 0.20 g. They therefore used them to weigh precious metals. This is how the word carat originated from the Greek “κεράτιον“.

When the pods are ripe, they will dry out and turn brown. Today white sugar dominates the confectionery industry. Until a few centuries ago, however, the healthy “chocolate” that grows on the carob tree was one of the most important sweeteners in the world. This “chocolate” is said to have nourished John the Baptist, the prodigal son of the Old Testament, during his stay in the desert as well as the armies of Muhammad. Carob saved the children from malnutrition during the Spanish Civil War and of course many people in Greece during the German occupation. Carob is hardly known here in Germany. There are now interesting and healthy products made from this tree which are worth discovering.

The strong and healthy elements of the carob tree:

• It contains at least six antioxidants, they act as cell defenders
• It is rich in calcium as it contains 350 mg per 100 g, compared to milk with 120 to 130 mg calcium per 100 g,
• Carob does not contain oxalic acid like chocolate. Oxalic acid reduces the body’s ability to absorb calcium. Carob pods have a sweet flavor, but have fewer calories than chocolate
• It is rich in vitamin B and B-carotene (precursor of vitamin A),
• It contains potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, magnesium, copper, chromium
• Also, it contains tannins, fibrous substances such as gilnin, which lowers cholesterol, has positive effects on blood sugar and has a preventive effect against diabetes mellitus and obesity
• It is rich in fiber, which helps the bowel to properly function, it soothes the stomach and regulates the bowel.
• It does not contain gluten or caffeine

Other benefits of carob tree

• It plays an important role in the treatment of asthma, relieves colds, therefore they are used in many medicines.
• In the case of a diet, it is perfect because it is low in fat
• In the old proverbs, carob tree helps increase libido and sperm.
• Unlike chocolate, it has no effect on stress or cardiac arrhythmias
• The carob flour is also a good product for diets. It is used to thicken the food (e.g. when babies vomit frequently) and is also suitable for the production of gluten-free diet products.

It is the perfect survival food: it does not need any special storage or preparation and is even beneficial to health.

Source: Unbezahlbare Geheimnisse unserer Gesundheit, versteckt in der griechischen Küche. ARMOS-Publikationen