The Carob Pod

Published Oct 29, 2020, 2:37 PM

This sweet, rich legume has sometimes been used as a chocolate substitute, but it can (and should!) stand on its own. Anney and Lauren dip into the history and science of carob.

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Hello, and welcome to save our production of I Heart Radio. I'm Annie and I'm Lauren Vocal Bam, and today we're talking about carib Yes. And this one is brought to you by my nightmares because I had a nightmare about carib Yes and Annie reported this to me and I immediately went, oh, man, we should totally do an episode about Caribs. So I'm probably a really bad co host. Well it was funny because I was like, that's got to be a sign of something, and I meant, maybe it meant we should definitely not do it, or maybe it meant we definitely should. But I like how you immediately went down to yes, we definitely should. Yeah, okay, So can I may I ask you about this nightmare? Because I am I am so uh my, my curiosity is piked. You know that's fair, Pete Dart piked either way. Uh. When someone texts you and says they had a nightmare about carab it's fair to have some follow up questions. I think it was partially inspired by our Hannibal episode. I think that really got into my subconscious Yeah. Yeah, I know. Now the concern is mounting and you're like, maybe I should not have asked, um, so I guess sum it up in the least terrifying way. For some reason, my mom and I met this very famous chef and the dream in the dream, uh and through a mall adventure during yes, the pandemic and malls are always terrifying, but especially when terrifying during panel, Yeah, we found this huge carab seed, like huge football, bigger than a football size football. Um. And she was asking his famous chef to give her ideas for how to use it, and he suggested that she hollow it out and put a small child in there and roasted. That was the dream huh. And I beg you not to read too deeply into what this says about me, because I really feel strongly that this was Hannibal inspired. Sure sure, sure, I um we spoiler alert are also thinking really hard about doing a Hustle and Gretel reading in a couple of weeks here, So maybe maybe it was related to that, I think so, I hope so. But I woke up and I was like, what the heck? This is the being a food podcast just one of the hazards it is, although that that's like a very specific type of food, It's not the first type of like being that I feel like my subconscious glom onto in terms of being hollowed out and putting a small child into well. And that's the other interesting thing is because I hardly have any experience with carab. I don't think I've ever cooked with it. I don't think I've ever purchased it, So I makes it all the more interesting to me. And I do feel like there was like this air of it's kind of a sweet and kind of like a fancier type food. I don't know much about. Sure, Okay, alright, well I see you. Yeah, I also have very little experience with carib. I can't say that to my remembrance, I've ever had a nightmare about it. Everybody has to have the careb nightmare, Lauren. One day, I'm thinking really hard. I'll let you know if it does. I will absolutely keep you updated. Um, but uh yeah, my main experience with carib was as a child. I was. I was young enough early enough in the eighties that I do remember in my elementary school having maybe like a kid in my class who couldn't have chocolate or whose mom was your parents. I'm sorry that was that was sexist of me. Who's whose parents, UM would make baked goods with carib and always being like this is being passed off as a chocolate substitute, and it isn't chocolate. That's not what it is, UM, and always just being disappointed in it based on that. UM. But but now this, this has gotten me curious. I want to go back and retry it. But but but I feel like this all brings us to our question, Yes, carib what is it? It's apparently the stuff of nightmare. I'm not the only one. We have some articles coming up, I'll tell you. Uh Well, aside from that, carab is a plant in the goom family UM, fabasia and um. They're in a branch of the Fabassier family that grows trees and woody shrubs UM and and these trees and in the case of carib, are these lovely big trees with a thick, large leaves that are great for shade. They prefer mild, dry climates UM and not all carib trees will grow carib pods on all of the trees, though, these these clusters of tiny petal lists and apparently super stinky flowers will develop UM. Apparently they smell like a combination of of of human semen and rotting. Oh there you go. Nightmares stuff and nightmares. Yeah. And I will say that if you live in Atlanta or have been here during the spring um tree blossoming season, you will probably know a very similar scent from ornamental pear trees. It's a whole thing that happens, yep all. And apparently in addition to that, these ornamental pairs Bradford pairs are just terrible for the local r r R very environment. That's a separate episode, probably a separate podcast at any rate. Um back to carib If pollinated, um, some of those terribly offensive flowers will will develop a pod that's a that's green when immature, and we'll ripen into this long, dark brown, shiny, kind of lumpy, um flat ovular pod, sort of like um, like if someone pressed a really overripe small banana flat and then and then lacquered it. I'm not sure why they would, but that's kind of what they look like. I bet that's been done. You know. Humans get up to stuff. I feel like we've talked about in our project where somebody just left a banana in a museum and people thought it was like modern art. So I don't think that this is outside the realm of possibility at all. No, No, you're right, you're right. Uh Um. Unlike that banana though. Um. Inside of this carib pod um you'll get a a sweet, stiff pulp surrounding a number of small brown seeds along one seam. And the skin contains a lot of tannins, which which gives carab just kind of like smoothly bitter twinge that's brought out by drying or roasting and uh. The pod can be eaten fresh or dried, roasted, and ground with the seeds removed in order to make a light brown powder. That powder can be steeped like coffee to result in a rich drink or used in candies or baked goods. You can also simmer the pods and water to create a sugary syrup, which can be reduced and used as a as a sweetener and drinks or desserts, or to produce beverages and alcohol. I've also seen recipes for savory sauces and stews that incorporate carab um. My very favorite botany blog called Botanist in the Kitchen highly recommends carib and peanut butter candies um as as peanuts and carib are both in the fabacier family, so apparently taste great together. Some traditional Mediterranean recipes include like almonds or tahini as complimentary flavors UM. In Malta, some candy makers produce carab based caramel candies for sale during Lent, when regular candies are like traditionally refrained from. I like that, Yeah, I like that. Yeah. I love a workaround. Yes, always thinking gotta get those sweets somehow, you'll do. Oh my gosh, you do. It's true. UM and the carab plant is also the source of locust being gum, which is the some kind of gelatinous ingredient that's used to thicken and homogenize and bind and stabilize things like UM like almond milk or ice cream, processed meats and sausages, UM, soft cheeses, soups and sauces, condiments, even up to like a like slow released drugs um in in medications, UM also in non food items like liquid cosmetics and paints and adhesives. UM locus being gum is taken from the endosperm of caribs seeds inside the fruit and locust bean is. Yes, it is another word for carab. No locuses were harmed in the making of this product. More on why it's called locust being later on. Yes, m M. But what about the nutrition. Well, uh, carab is high in sugars, also has a good smattering of vitamins and minerals, a bit of protein, a whole bunch of fiber. Um. It'll help fill you up, but to keep you going, you know, pair it with with some proteins and fat um. Carab is sometimes used as indeed a substitute for cocoa in candies and other treats because it's got that that roasty, rich flavor um, and because it's considered to be a little bit healthier um in part because it's naturally sweet so you don't have to add as much extra sugar, and also because it doesn't contain caffeine or theobromineum, which are stimulants. And also also because all that fiber means that you can like sub it in for other flowers that are more complex carbi. Yeah, uh, but I mean it still contains sugar, you know. Research on how our bodies handle different types of sugar is still ongoing. Current recommendations include avoiding too much sugar of any kind. Um. Also, I'm just gonna say, like once, it's like if you're making like a like a like a carib bar um, like a chocolate bar, but with carab instead of cocoa, once you add whatever fats you're using to make that, I don't know, man, you know, read read your read your ingredient labels. I see you see. If it's really kind of just a one to one comparison er, if it's apples and oranges, I don't know. I mean you know, if you're avoiding chocolate or or caffeine, then then yeah, this can be an alternative totally. Um, but read really wables um looks Bingham, I'll say. Is also considered like a healthy substitute for fats in processed foods because you can add that that thickness and texture from that fiber without adding fat. And yeah, carab does contain a lot of soluble fiber, so it's been traditionally used to help treat digestive problems like diarrhea, and it's also being investigated for for different compounds it contains that may help prevent cancer and cardiovascular problems and diabetes and other diseases. UM likely the amount of these compounds that you would get from just like eating a handful of carib chips or like baking some into your brownies isn't going to have these like strong health benefits. And as always, before incorporating a medicinally significant amount of anything into your diet, talk talk to talk to a medical provider. Because the human body is complicated, more research needs to be done. What's the third thing I usually say? I don't know. Yeah, eat a vegetable. Eat a vegetable. I don't think it's related to that particular saying that. Uh we always throw that in the h Yeah, never not eat a vegetable. I mean, it's pretty good advice. M h uh. We do have a couple of numbers for you. We do, uh so, so okay. The global carib powder market is worth nearly fifty million dollars a year and is growing. It's expected to hit nearly seventy million dollars a year UM. Europe currently consumes the most about the global production, and Asia Pacific is expected to increase the most in consumption over the next ten years or so as um CAB becomes more available in health food segments. In that area. UM most is grown in the Mediterranean, though UM Spain, Italy, Portugal, Greece and Morocco are the five places that produced the most, and they by far produced um most of the world's supply. Yes, and there is a good reason for that, indeed, and we will get into that history as soon as we get back from a quick break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you, yes, thank you. So the cap tree probably originated thousands of years ago in the Mediterranean makes sense, I feel like it often doesn't. But hey, yeah, actually, yeah, you're right. Yeah, I know. I was like, oh, straightforward, weird? What um? And it has been cultivated there for at least a couple of thousands of years, according to all fall A de condole um I said that in a very interesting pronunciation, because this is the nineteenth century French Swiss botanist, so apologies Alphonse de candole Probably um, he wrote, carib quote grew wild in the Levant, which is part of the Mediterranean, UM probably on the southern coast of Anatolia and in Syria, perhaps also in Saranasia. Its cultivation began within historic time. The Greeks diffused it in Greece and Italy, but it was after four but it was afterwards more highly esteemed by the Arabs, who propagated it as far as Morocco and Spain and all these countries. The tree has become naturalized here and there in a less productive form. And it is notable that it was domesticated so late. A lot of food crops were domesticated um before written history existed UM. And that may indicate that that either the wild fruit was useful enough to foragers, that that no one really bothered to cultivate it earlier than that, or that no one cared enough about it as a food source to bother to cultivate it before that. Woof oof, I just say hard to say pre cultivation, though care of it may have originated in Africa and or the Middle East, possibly as far back as four to six thousand years ago. Ancient Egyptians might have used locust being gum as an adhesive in mummy bindings. Oh cool the stuff, I'm night there, I was onto something I didn't know it you were um. And and also around the b C. E C. Transition era, UM plenty of the elder our old pal noted that the flowers do indeed have a very powerful odor. Wow, I don't thing to say. You know, I'm always sad when Plenty doesn't show up in an episode, So this is nice. I feel like it's been a minute since Plenty has made a cameo. Welcome back, but yeah, we've missed you. Many people have historically called carab St. John's bread as a reference to how in the Bible St. John survived on locust when in the desert and the temptation of the hungry prodigal sun by the husk, and in fact locust first noted a carab tree. It was only later it came to mean grasshoppers and grasshopper like creatures. Um. Carab often provided senses for the poor during times of famine, but was more often a food for live stock. Again, you know, it's hard to say what was all getting recorded. It could have just been not necessarily of worth writing down. But at one time carats these were believed to be so uniform and wait that they were used as unit weights like a kilogram um, and from that would get the word carrot with the sea uh and jewelers have used them to weigh stones and precious materials. Throughout history. However, they aren't really all that uniform light, so you could and people definitely did the system. I love that this is where we get both locusts and carrot, like I know what two interesting words like, and to like wildly separate concepts to have come from this one food product that like everyone was kind of met about. I know, it's pretty excellent. UM. Spanish missionaries were responsible for introducing carib trees to North America during colonization nine century. Italian Prince bel Monte influenced many on the ornamental use of care of trees and also the planting of thousands for reforestation purposes. The US Patent Office YES distributed over eight thousand care of trees it received from Spain in California in eighteen fifty four eighteen fifty six. UM Israel sent more seeds in eighteen fifty nine, and these treets took off particularly well in the southwestern United States. In nineteen fourteen, the horticultural commissioner for Santa Barbara told the Los Angeles Times quote, the day may come when the deserts will be extensive forest of carab trees. Huh and okay, so that may not have happened UM, but but carib did spread throughout the southwestern United States and also UM parts of Australia, South Africa, and Central America over the next few decades. Simultaneously, UM, some of the Mediterranean countries that had previously exported a lot of carib like Cyprus, began moving away from agriculture and into um more more financial business kind of segments. Italian immigrants working at street vendors in New York City sold carib for chewing in the UM. Yeah in the US got one of its very first health food cookbooks and Mrs Richter's Cookless Book, and it included Carab recipes like desserts made with carab and pine nuts and carib almond milk. The Alternative medicine contributor for the Los Angeles Times, it wrote about confections of quote figs, nuts, prunes, honey, dates, raisins, and carab meal in nineteen two. When Hawk and Does launched in Manhattan in nineteen six, it featured a care but flavored ice cream. It didn't last very long, and this was part of an entire health food trend that UM that has been kind of widely panned. Yes, and speaking of In a article published by Jonathan Kauffman for The New Yorker called quote, How carib Traumatized a generation, he writes about being a child raised during the nineteen seventies, how food generation, Uh, This whole carab as a chocolate replacement scarred many children. Health cookbooks at the time did tout carib as a chocolate substitute and an ingredient in quote Confections without Objections, as one Vegan cookbook put it um So I had a couple of quotes I want to share from this article. And at the pinnacle of our dietary suffering worse even than sprout sandwiches are fruit leather or whole wheat scones. There was carib the chocolate substitute that never could And here's another one. Grown ups have mastered this acquired taste for the air sets, but children have no ability to strike the same bargain. They taste not the similarities between the foods they are eating and the foods they really want to eat, only the thwarted desire for what is forbidden. No matter how much time passes, those objects of childhood dread are difficult to see. A new poor carab I may never know how good you taste. That is harsh. That is harsh. And I know we've talked about this a lot before the danger of viewing something as an alternative instead of just what it is and just what it is, oh yeah, yeah all all the time. I would always rather be served something and be like, oh man, this is delicious because of this and this and this isn't it cool? And I'll probably be like yeah, totally. And if you serve me something and go like it's like chocolate, and I'm like, this isn't heck and chocolate stop, or like it's not chicken. Just call it something different, like, don't make it try to be It's fine on its own. Yeah, like all of us, we're fine on our own. No comparisons necessary, no comparison um. And it wasn't just children that weren't super super fond of carib. Some farmers fed carab to their livestock in the nineteen twenties, and at least one plant went up during this time, like a manufacturing plant uh to extract sugar from carab, But by the nineteen forties, carab was primarily seen as a not so desirable ornamental plant in California in facts in a humorous route in the l A Times, Care for a carab Pod, I got too many of us. Yikes, yikes. And you know, it did take long for chocolate the cell food thing to sort of die down and chocolate to become hip, and certainly was by the nineteen eighties. In n the Times best seller was Chocolate The Consuming Passion by Sandra Boyton. UM. Yeah, yeah, yeah, UM. Well, you know, as I will say here, as of UM, the University of Cyprus launched its Black Gold Initiative, which is this sweeping research project UM to rekindle cultivation of an interest in carib in Cyprus. UM and their aim here what this project is to plant forty trees UM. And since UM that the government has also gotten involved, hoping to use carib to help offset some of the negative economic effects of the pandemic. UM. And it seems like a really cool, hopeful project. Like they're making a lot of cool sounding UM beverages and they're putting out a bunch of recipes. They're they're excited about carib and I'm excited for them. Yeah, like when people get excited about the food things. Yeah, I feel like I didn't really see much data to to prove my my gut instinct. But I feel like, you know, in the two thousands there was a health trend as well. Yeah for sure, Oh yeah, certainly. I think because I was trying to remember, like, have I even had carib I believe I've had it in a cookie that I got Trader Joe's. And I think that I had it in a smoothie. I think I've had to have it. Yeah, yeah, gosh, I don't think. I don't think I've had it since um and and that was as like a chocolate substitute and I was mad about it, so um So, I don't know. I think I think it's time to revisit carib let's revisit care of the stuff of nightmares. I mean, that's only got me more intrigued, Like there's something going on here. My mind is trying to tell me something. Perhaps you're watching too many horror movies. That's probably, honestly what your brain is trying to tell you. Annie. I hate to break it to you, but it would probably be trying to tell you that during any month of the year, let alone October. That's fair. But still, like I just it blows my mind. I wasn't thinking about CAREB and there's nothing I can think of why that would have come to my brain, but it did. So here we are, So here we are. You're welcome. Yeah, maybe it was maybe like the spirit of Cab was like I need a podcast to help bring me back to the public light. That's probably it. Yeah, yeah, that's definitely the most logical explanation for this. Well, our work here is done. It is because that is approximately what we have to say about carib today. We do have some listener mail for you. We do, but first we have one worker break for a word from our sponsor, and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you, and we're back with listener. Oh gosh, it wasn't what you were expecting, And it wasn't was I was that was thought it was going to be sweet and then it turned into a nightmare. Oh gosh. Uh huh. Yeah, I'm giving you something to think about. Thank you. I'm always trying out And speaking of nightmares, this is an excellent segue into this first letter, Emily wrote. My dad is a huge fan of Savor, and since writing out the pandemic together, he's also converted me into a savor fan. Imagine our surprise when in a recent episode you two mentioned how much you like Freddie Mercury mash up costumes. My dad and I freaked out, and he said, I have to email Annie and Lauren with my Halloween pictures. I have a reputation for going pretty ham at Halloween. I've dressed up as the dr Pepper Little Sweet Guy and full drag, painted myself completely blue for the corpse ride, etcetera, etcetera. But the Freddie Mercury costume was definitely the weirdest. I did the dumb thing you're not supposed to do and committed to this costume November one of the year prior. That's right. I hiped this costume up to friends, colleagues, Random's on the Street for a whole year and had to deliver. Rather than most Freddie Mercury costumes where people dressed up like Freddie in a Sailor Moon Sailor suit, I deployed a full pun mode. Half of my body was Freddy Krueger and half with Sailor Mercury. I think the pictures will speak for themselves on just how weird this costume actually was. It was fantastic. It was fantastically weird. It was so good. The pun is great, the execution was great. I think the year long build up was paid off and full love it. Yeah we we hear on saber can only uh state approval for ridiculously intense costuming. So yeah, yeah, and I do the same thing, except I usually do it after Dragon Connor. Right. I was next year, my costume is gonna be this and I get in the same So I feel you, I feel you, But I think this was a smashing success. Aces Um. Caroline wrote, I've been listening to your podcast for over a year now and had to write in after hearing your podcast on Apples. I live in When at You, Washington, known as the Apple capital of the world and the creation location of the cosmic Crisp Apple. We do have a local festival as well in the spring, first weekend in May, apple Blossom that has been running since. It's two weeks full of food, fair, carnival, and two parades, kids and original. I also wanted to add in we were once known for the world's largest apple pie and got to attend that event my first year here in when Achy. Don't count us out. We are very proud region for our apple growing. Well that's a lucky year to move in. Yeah, apple pie, world's largest apple pie. Good year to join up. Heck man, I love a festival. I love a fall festival too, right, Oh my gosh, I am I really I really missed the Renaissance Festival this year. Yeah, yeah, that's always a good time. Um yeah, I mean Apple festival. One time. We will go. We will make it to one somewhere. Yes, sometime, Yes we will. It's we we have to. We're obligated. We are obligated as as journalists and the most professional food journalists and humans that we are. Yes, we must go. We really do. Yeah. So thank you, thank you for for for writing and telling us about that. Yes, thanks to both of these listeners. If you would like to write to as, you can, Our email is Hello at savor pod dot com. We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at savor pod and we do hope to hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my heart Radio, you can visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Sellen Fagin and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.

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