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Carob (Johnny Bread) lb |
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$6.99
Food Uses
Apart from being chewed as a sweetmeat, carob pods are processed to a cocoa -like flour which is added to cold or heated milk for drinking. It has been combined with wheat flour in making bread or pancakes. A flour made by beating the seeded pods is high in fiber and has been utilized in breakfast foods. The finer flour is also made into confections, especially candy bars. The pods, coarsely ground and boiled in water yield a thick, honey-like sirup, or molasses.
The seeds constitute 10 to 20% of the pod. They yield a tragacanth-like gum (manogalactan), called in the trade "Tragasol", which is an important commercial stabilizer and thickener in bakery goods, ice cream, salad dressings, sauces, cheese, salami, bologna, canned meats and fish, jelly, mustard, and other food products. The seed residue after gum extraction can be made into a starch- and sugar-free flour of 60% protein content for diabetics.
In Germany, the roasted seeds have served as a substitute for coffee. In Spain, they have been mixed with coffee.
It has been demonstrated that the extracted sugars of the pod (sucrose, glucose, fructose and maltose in the ratio 5:1:1:0:7) can be utilized to produce fungal protein. Infusions of the pulp are fermented into alcoholic beverages.
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