Carob Chip - Cultural Significance

Cultural Significance

Use of the carob plant dates back to Mesopotamian culture (modern day Iraq). The carob pods were used to create juices, sweets, and were highly prized due to its multipurpose. The carob tree is mentioned frequently in texts dating back thousands of centuries, outlining its growth and cultivation in Middle Eastern and North African countries such as Iraq, Syria, and Egypt. "The Epic of Gilgamesh" is one textual evidence, and the oldest literature known to mankind, predating the bible, which describes the reverence of the carob tree.

The Jewish Talmud features a parable of altruism, commonly known as "Honi and the Carob Tree", in which a carob tree takes 70 years to bear fruit; the planter did not benefit from planting, but did so in the interest of future generations.

In reality, the fruiting age of carob trees varies: cuttings taken from fruit-bearing trees may bear fruit in as few as three to four years, and seedlings grown in ideal conditions may fruit within six to eight years. Although it is native to moderately dry climates, two or three summers irrigation will greatly aid the development, hasten fruiting, and increase the yield."

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, the Prodigal Son, having squandered his inheritance, wishes that he could also partake in eating the pigs' diet of carob pods.

The origin of the term carat. Used as a unit of purity for gold alloys.