Carob chips - Yuck!

[Gary]

My wife brought home a bag of unsweetened carob chips this week and baked them in some bran muffins. I grabbed a small handful of chips and popped them in my mouth thinking they would taste something like chocolate. The package made some reference to a "fourth generation chocolate maker" who was involved in the process.

YUCK!

I think they are inedible. Maybe a sweetened version would be better but for some reason my wife is in a "low sugar" mentality these days.

Is carob a legitimate substitute for chocolate cookies or muffins?

What is "carob" anyway?

[uberleet]

Carob wikipedia entry. The "carob as chocolate substitute" was one of the great lies of the 70's; my mother fell for it, too (though she denies it now ). I did eventually get used to the carob flavor, but I never understood the chocolate connection. I suspect it was a prank that went waaaay too far. Every now and then I see it cited as a miracle ingredient, but it doesn't seem to be getting traction these days, fortunately.

Did your wife like them?

[naguere]

In England in the late 1940's, with sweets being rationed you could (as a child) buy one of these flattened banana curved brown bean pods to grind and chew on. The pleasure of the initial sweetness and slight chocolaty flavour soon gave way to disgust and then to throw the darned thing away.

It was also used as animal feed I believe.

[gus_tatory]

Is carob a legitimate substitute for chocolate cookies or muffins?

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umm, nope.

these things that try to be substitutes for other things are almost universally disappointing, no?

PS: carob exists in a lot of processed food as 'locust bean gum'.

[jgarner53]

Ugh. Carob. I remember friends whose moms did the whole health food carob granola tofu thing in the 70's (not that there's anything wrong with either granola or tofu). Carob=nasty

Though I did develop a certain tolerance for the peanut butter Tiger's Milk bars - the precursor of the energy bar. But lying to me and telling me that it tastes "just like a Reese's peanut butter cup" is just wrong. Are your tastebuds that out of whack?

So, yes, does your wife like them? Let her eat the muffins.

[mizducky]

My wife brought home a bag of unsweetened carob chips this week and baked them in some bran muffins.  I grabbed a small handful of chips and popped them in my mouth thinking they would taste something like chocolate.  The package made some reference to a "fourth generation chocolate maker" who was involved in the process.

YUCK!

I think they are inedible.  Maybe a sweetened version would be better but for some reason my wife is in a "low sugar" mentality these days.

Is carob a legitimate substitute for chocolate cookies or muffins?

What is "carob" anyway?

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I may have what might seem a lame question, but here goes: did the recipe for muffins call for sweetened or unsweetened chips? (Whether carob or chocolate?)

While I would never claim that carob is an adequate substitute for real chocolate, it may well be that part of the problem in this case is the use of *unsweetened* carob chips. Myself, I would think *unsweetened* chocolate chips would be just as unpalatable in a muffin as unsweetened carob--I'd rather think you'd want to use sweetened chips, wouldn't you?

I have had baked goods with properly sweetened carob in them, and while they don't taste like chocolate, they can be quite nice. I happen to think that the reputation of carob as an ingredient has suffered unfairly from all those attempts to position it as a chocolate substitute--people get so disappointed in its failure to be chocolate that they then fail to appreciate it on its own terms. It is IMO a perfectly okay ingredient--as long as you don't *expect* it to be chocolate.

Edited May 6, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[Gary]

My wife has been taking nutrition classes. The teacher is a PhD and published a book on the Vegan diet. As a result, she is avoiding dairy (calling it "cow pus") and sugar. Chocolate has both. I suppose this is why the unsweetened carob chips making it into her shopping cart.

I've already ranted about her irrational food choices on another thread so I'll restrain myself from jumping back up on my soap box.

[mizducky]

My wife has been taking nutrition classes.  The teacher is a PhD and published a book on the Vegan diet.  As a result, she is avoiding dairy (calling it "cow pus") and sugar.  Chocolate has both.  I suppose this is why the unsweetened carob chips making it into her shopping cart.

I've already ranted about her irrational food choices on another thread so I'll restrain myself from jumping back up on my soap box.

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Oh--now I remember that thread!

You might want to tell her about Sunspire brand carob chips--totally vegan, sweetened with malted grain sweetener rather than cane sugar. I have tasted these and they're quite nice. Also, scroll down that same page to see totally-vegan chocolate chips (although those do still contain sugar).

Edited May 6, 2005 by mizducky (log)

[chefzadi]

Carob you say?

Last year my son came down with a bad case of the runs. I went to hole $$$$ to purchase something with 'good bacteria' in it. A few years earlier a doctor in France had prescribed an acidophilus supplement for my daugher who had the same problem and it worked. So I was looking for the same thing. The chipper, team player, head of supplement section insisted that carob powder would stiffen his stools.

That night my son spewed brown liquid from both ends.

Yeah, carob is great if you don't 'expect' it to taste like chocolate or to stiffen stools.

Ya know I'm playing with ya Mizducky. True story though.

[mizducky]

Carob you say?

Last year my son came down with a bad case of the runs. I went to hole $$$$ to purchase something with 'good bacteria' in it. A few years earlier a doctor in France had prescribed an acidophilus supplement for my daugher who had the same problem and it worked. So I was looking for the same thing. The chipper, team player, head of supplement section insisted that carob powder would stiffen his stools.

That night my son spewed brown liquid from both ends. 

Yeah, carob is great if you don't 'expect' it to taste like chocolate or to stiffen stools.

Ya know I'm playing with ya Mizducky. True story though. 

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Oh, I believe you. I've gotten some screwy advice from health-food store clerks myself, over the years. And I would have never recommended carob for that task. Er, wow.

[rooftop1000]

they make doggie "chocolates" from carob....my mother once ate a whole bag after an ummmm evening out....

t

[emmalish]

Gah. I remember one time when I was a kid my mom made some "chocolate chip cookies". I took one bite and spit it out. She was adamant that I couldn't really tell the difference and was just being difficult.

To this day I have no idea what possessed her. She was never into the 70's health food craze. It was just this one little blip where she decided carob could be substituted for chocolate! Perfect!

[dexygus]

Heh, I made treats for my dog once using carob powder, and he wouldn't touch them. Mind you, he's part beagle, and really a chowhound.

Edited May 9, 2005 by dexygus (log)

[halloweencat]

i'm in total agreement with miz ducky.

i think many ingredients are unfairly maligned because we expect them to taste (or they are marketed as tasting) just like the thing they're replacing.

soy milk gets a bad rap, i think, on this account. it doesn't taste like milk, but it does taste good (to many, including me).

the "unsweetened" aspect sounds like it would be not terribly pleasant if it were chocolate either. i like my chocolate (i only eat dark chocolate on the less-sweet side, i don't like the taste of milk and i am also in the "cow pus" camp, more or less, 'tho i will occasionally consume a bit of a slice of cake or something with milk in it -- 'tho i don't eat much). i like it at around 64% cacao to 72% cacao. i've had 99% cacao and that was too bitter/nonsweet for me for eating as a treat. but it was real chocolate.

i've tasted a +lot+ of +bad+ carob, but those sunspire (sweetened) carob chips are quite tasty. and it's important to remember they are their own thing, not a chocolate clone.

cheers :)

hc

Edited May 9, 2005 by halloweencat (log)

[K8memphis]

i'm in total agreement with miz ducky.

i think many ingredients are unfairly maligned because we expect them to taste (or they are marketed as tasting) just like the thing they're replacing.

soy milk gets a bad rap, i think, on this account.  it doesn't taste like milk, but it does taste good (to many, including me)...

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I agree with y'all, MizDucky & Halloweencat--though I haven't used carob in eons, I made some dang good stuff with it--Pillsbury used to put it in their chocolate cake mix too--as itself it is a great ingredient.

[touaregsand]

Carob.

[emsny]

Last time I checked, cacao was a plant, not a mammal. So there is no dairy in chocolate, apart from milk chocolate.

[Patrick S]

Last time I checked, cacao was a plant, not a mammal. So there is no dairy in chocolate, apart from milk chocolate.

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And last time I checked, milk was not "cow pus."

[halloweencat]

fwiw, the "cow pus" expression refers to research that found a certain percentage of pus/mucous in milk. that's all.

also, fwiw, although chocolate doesn't need milk to be "chocolate," many things that use chocolate don't prominently label them as "milk chocolate" ('tho it might be in the ingredients). for example, my SO's mother bought me a dark chocolate easter bunny this year (because she knows i don't like milk chocolate, and love dark). i tasted it, and it tasted a bit "milky" to me, and sure enough...milk was listed in the ingredients, but it wasn't on the "big label."

agreed that there is no need to have dairy in chocolate for it to be chocolate.

cheers :)

hc