The carob and Tu b’Shevat

SYBIL KAPLAN

Food customs associated with Tu b’Shevat, which this year starts on the night of Feb. 7, usually involve fruits and nuts connected to eretz Yisrael, such as the seven species mentioned in Deuteronomy 8:7-8: barley, wheat, figs, dates, grapes, olives and pomegranates. Among those not generally included is carob.

However, I remember in Sunday school when they gave us a little bag for Tu b’Shevat that contained an orange, dates, figs and that funny-shaped pod with seeds inside and a honey-like taste called carob. The sweet syrup from carob’s brown leather pod is popular in baklava and other Middle Eastern desserts.

Philologos, in the column “On Language” in the Feb. 4, 2005, Forward, expounded on this eating of carob, also known as St. John’s Bread. In Hebrew, it is called charuv and, in Yiddish, it is bokser. He explained that the Hebrew came from the Arab, harub, but what was more fascinating was the derivation of bokser. This word comes from the medieval German word for fruit of the carob tree, bockshornbaum, meaning a buck or ram or goat’s horn because the pod looks like a horn. The Christian Bible talks about John the Baptist eating carob pods in the wilderness, hence, the other name, St. John’s Bread.

Carob trees line Jerusalem streets and are most likely indigenous to Israel, but they are not mentioned specifically in the Torah. There is only one reference (Exodus 30:13) to the shekel being equal to 20 gerahs and 1/20th was the carob seed.

Several references to carob appear in the Talmud; one indicates that the first-century sage Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who was forced to go in hiding with his son for 13 years because he was critical of the Roman government, lived on carob.

Carob can be used as a substitute for chocolate in candies and desserts and is a healthy alternative. It contains large amounts of fibre, has almost no fat and is naturally sweet (high in natural sugar) and free of caffeine and theobromine, the stimulants in chocolate that can cause headaches, fatigue, rashes and allergic reactions. Carob is relatively low in calories, high in potassium and low in sodium. Here are some recipes using carob powder.

CAROB-DATE CANDY
24 pitted, halved dates
4 teaspoons carob powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Honey
1 cup chopped nuts

Blend dates, carob powder and salt. Add honey so mixture is sticky. Add 3/4 cup nuts and fold into a roll. Roll in the remaining 1/4 cup of nuts. Refrigerate until cold. Slice to serve.

CAROB BREAD PUDDING
3 cups stale bread, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
3 cups milk
1/3 cup carob powder
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Heat milk until scalded in a saucepan, adding carob powder while cooking. Beat egg yolks with brown sugar in a bowl until thick and creamy; add milk mixture to make a pudding. Add bread, vanilla and almond extract; let stand 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and grease a soufflé dish. Pour water into a baking pan, place the soufflé dish in the water and pour the pudding into the dish. Bake for 45 minutes. Remove the soufflé dish from the water and let stand 10 minutes. Serves four.

CAROB BROWNIES
1/2 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup carob powder
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup milk or non-dairy creamer
2/3 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease an eight-inch square cake pan. Cream butter or margarine, vanilla, sugar and eggs until smooth and fluffy. Add carob powder, flour and baking powder. Add milk or non-dairy creamer and nuts.

Spread batter into the cake pan. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool, then cut into squares.

Sybil Kaplan is a book reviewer, journalist, lecturer, food columnist, cookbook author and feature writer living in Jerusalem.

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