Harvesting Carob Pods

I first learned about carob in the early 1980's when we bought some nutritional bars that contained a healthy chocolate substitute called carob; they tasted really good. A couple of years later I bought some carob powder and made a simple treat from a recipe in the La Leche League cookbook. (See recipe below)

I never knew carob was a bean pod that grew on a tree until I went on a harvesting event with the Valley Permaculture Alliance at someone's home. They had already collected a lot of pods so they invited us over to gather the rest. Right away we tasted the pods and they were oh-so good! We chewed them carefully and discarded the seeds. Some of the pods were still a little moist and chewy like a candy bar. Randy said it reminded him of a Tootsie Roll. 

I wanted so badly to plant a carob tree but my neighbor said no way! She had a carob tree on her previous property and the flowers smelled awful, so I never bought one. Perhaps that's the reason most trees are found in older neighborhoods and parks and they're not easy to find in nurseries. However, not everyone I've talked to recently dislikes the odor.

Every year I have a goal to harvest the carob as soon as it's ripe so that I can eat them when they're really moist and chewy. However, every year I'm so busy harvesting mesquite, palo verde and ironwood beans as well as saguaro fruit that I almost miss the carob harvest; this year was no different. Sometimes I need a push. I finally felt an urgency to go harvest last week when I learned that a storm may be approaching.

Randy agreed to go with me so we jumped in his truck with a bucket and a tarp and headed to a park in north Phoenix. There were a lot of pods that had already fallen on the ground but we could see many that were still hanging. Although most were out of reach, we found a long stick (I forgot to bring my extension pole) and Randy climbed up (very carefully) and knocked the pods onto the tarp. I think he did pretty good for a 67 year old!

We gathered up a 5 gallon bucket full of thick, beautiful carob pods from two trees. We would have gotten at least twice that if we had a longer pole. It's not recommended to harvest from the ground but if we had harvested before they fell to the ground, we would have gotten so much more! There was enough to feed an entire neighborhood. It's really sad to see so much wasted food, especially in times like these.

I really enjoy eating carob pods in its whole form as a snack. If you want carob powder, it's easiest to have the pods processed with a hammermill. If you don't have access to a mill, you need to remove the seeds before grinding in a blender. If the pods are dry and hard, it can be very difficult to remove the seeds. Perhaps you could soak the pods, cut it open along the sides and remove them, then dry the pods before grinding, but I have never tried it since I have plenty of carob flour from a previous hammermill event.

If you have some flour, give this simple recipe a try:

1 cup of carob flour

1 cup of peanut butter or any nut butter

1/2 - 1 cup of honey (the original recipe called for 1 cup of honey but I use much less now)

Blend all ingredients together and either roll it into balls, use it as a sandwich spread or spread it into a rectangle Tupperware container and refrigerate, then cut into squares. You may want to roll the balls in extra carob flour, sesame seeds or coconut if they're too sticky.

I have varied the recipe throughout the years to include powdered herbs and to make medicine balls. You can add ginger, mint essential oil or a variety of healthy ingredients. Comment below and tell us how you like to eat carob!