Really Delicious Things You Make with Carob

[Chris Amirault]

I'm getting a bit of blowback for suggesting that carob is a sign of a bad dish when you see it on a menu. I'm old enough to remember the days when nearly every place had "carob this" and "carob that" as substitutes for chocolate; as are many ersatz foods, those things were largely inedible.

But I'm willing, nay, happy to have the scales lifted. So I searched on carob and found one topic called "Carob Chips -- Yuck!"That didn't help me.

What are some good recipes for carob?

[Jenni]

Carob molasses mixed with tahini, eaten on good bread. And it's not a silly substitute recipe, it's a traditional combo, a bit like grape molasses and tahini.

Not sure of any other traditional uses, apart from drinks. Would be interested in seeing if any chefs have done something modern and interesting though.

[Darienne]

Years ago, in another gustatory lifetime, I ordered Dr. Mercola's cook book, Just What the Doctor Ordered. Two carob recipes were quite satisfactory, even delicious at that non-chocolate time, 'I Can't Believe it's not Chocolate' and 'Carob Protein Bar'.

I still have the book and have been known to root around in it...but not make anything.

Edited January 23, 2011 by Darienne (log)

[Mjx]

I'm wondering how carob powder would work as a base, rather than a flavouring. My recollection of eating the pods is that they didn't have a pronounced flavour, but tasted pleasantly sweetish and sort of... warm. In a certain sense, not unlike chestnut flour.

The only agreeable carob recipe I can recall making involved adding a fair amount of instant coffee, a bit of cardamom, and rather a lot of sugar to the carob drink mix my parents bought as a substitute for chocolate drink mix (carob is inseparable from irony, in my mind; my parents were all over carob, partly because it contains no caffeine, and chocolate has a little... not as much as carob drink + instant coffee, however).

A number of bevergages from cultures in warm climates are seed- or root-starch based (e.g. horchata), and carob also seems to be used for this purpose.

[OnigiriFB]

none... unless you are a dog?

[David A. Goldfarb]

I like the natural flavor of the pods, but have never thought too much about how to use them in some other way. The comparison to chestnuts is probably a good start. I could imagine something like chestnut cream made with carob, or it could be interesting in a soup, but I'm not sure how it works, like if you try to blend it or combine it with a hot liquid like a starch.

[Pierogi]

none... unless you are a dog?

LOL LOL LOL ! Seriously....

My dogs just finished a Christmas prezzie from their Aunties that included a box of Three Dog Bakery's "Lick 'N' Crunch" cookies, which are made to look like Oreos, but with a carob cookie and a peanut butter filling.

The girls loved them. I sort of sniffed them and went, yeah, you're a dog, you eat tree branches and used Kleenex.....

Edit to add...but on the other hand, carob has been around as an ingredient for a long, long time, so I'm sure it must have a use...somewhere. I'm just not aware of any, so I too am looking forward to see what people come up with.

Edited January 24, 2011 by Pierogi (log)

[ChefCrash]

Carob molasses mixed with tahini, eaten on good bread. And it's not a silly substitute recipe, it's a traditional combo, a bit like grape molasses and tahini.

Not sure of any other traditional uses, apart from drinks. Would be interested in seeing if any chefs have done something modern and interesting though.

We were weaned on this stuff:) Add enough tahini to Carob molasses until it has the color of chocolate milk or to taste.

Along with Lavender blossoms, Cardamom and Anise, Carob molasses was the secret ingredient to my father's tobacco (tambac) concoction for his water pipe.

[Chris Amirault]

Is this an example? What's it called in Arabic?