Carob flour, the substitute for chocolate (properties and recipes)

Its flavor is reminiscent of cocoa but unlike this famous American tree, the carob It is the fruit of a Mediterranean plant, the carob tree.

Long forgotten, right now the carob is a fashionable food, because in addition to being a chocolate substitute that you can use in your recipes, has interesting nutritional properties which we are going to talk about.

But we won’t just talk about the carob benefitswe want to tell you how to make homemade carob flour and also where to buy it, which you can use later in the delicious recipes with carob which we will also explain step by step.

What is carob?

The carob either carob is the fruit of the tree called Ceratonia siliquawhich we usually know as carob tree. These fruits are actually legumesbecause the carob tree belongs to the legume family.

In fact the fruit of the carob tree is a sheath lasts about 15 cm long and brown in color, containing some hard seeds, round and flat. The seeds are surrounded by a sweet-tasting pulp which is somewhat reminiscent of cocoa.

The carob It has always been used as animal feed. It is also widely used in the food industry as adensanteSince the Carob flour It has the ability to absorb up to 100 times its weight.

Already in ancient Mesopotamia, the carob in the preparation of drinks and sweets and was highly appreciated for its health benefits. It may surprise you to learn that the word carat -the unit of weight used in jewelry- derives from the Greek keration, which means carob. And it is that the seeds were used to weigh precious metals and gems, due to their size and uniform weight.

Uses of carob in cooking

The Carob flour It is produced by grinding the previously dehydrated pods and pulp. It is used as we have said as adensantebut also as we have said as chocolate substitute for its sweet taste, although some people find it very similar in taste.

In the same way as cocoa, you can use the Carob flour to make sweets such as biscuits, cookies, muffins, etc. But also in beverages as an alternative to cocoa. It is worth remembering that the carob flour is gluten-freeso it is suitable for celiacs and intolerant people.

Being also quite sweet, You can reduce or even eliminate refined sugar from your recipes.

With the current boom in “natural” food, we can find other products derived from the fruit of the carob tree on the market, such as carob syrup or molasses which is a kind of vegetable “honey”.

carob properties

The carob It has become a bit fashionable in recent times because it can be considered a superfood.

Have a high fiberso it increases the Feeling full and it is also a food suitable for hypertensive. Although it is rich in sugars, it has a low glycemic indexthat is to say that the sugars it contains are of slow absorption, so they release energy slowly without generating hyperglycemic peaks.

It also contributes vitamins A and B-2, which are beneficial for skin and eye health, and various minerals such as iron, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and zinc. Another interesting fact is that it contains polyphenols, an antioxidant that helps reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

In its natural form, the Carob is low in fat and does not contain gluten or lactose.

How to make carob flour

You have to say from the beginning what to do homemade carob flour it is laborious, and from an economic point of view it is worth it only if you have available carob trees to pick the pods. Otherwise it is easier and more convenient to buy it ready-made, you can easily get it in diet stores, department stores and of course online:

But if you want to make your own flour, we will tell you how to do it step by step:

• Rinse the pods to remove any dust or dirt they may have, and then leave them in soak submerged in water for several hours. This is done so that the pods soften and are easier to open.
• then you have to separate the seeds from the pods. We are going to use only the pods with the pulp, so the seeds are discarded.
• Arrange the chopped pods on a baking tray and dried at 80°C for about two hours. You can also use a food dehydrator like this one.
• After two hours, grind the pods a little with a food processor or a grinder, they do not need to be completely pulverized, and put them back in the oven for 1 more hour.
• When you see that the powdered pods are dry, you can grind with a powerful robot or coffee grinder until I get one fine flour.
• If necessary, you can pass it through a chinois to remove the largest pieces.
• Leave at room temperature for 2 hours and then store in airtight containers.

Recipes with carob flour

How to use flour in your recipes? In addition to the detailed recipes that we leave you below, we also give you some general tips for its use:

• you can use it for replace cocoain the same amount.
• being a sweet flourwe advise you reduce the amount of sugar by 20% provided in the recipe.
• You can mix it with other floursand in particular we advise you to use it with rice flourwhich enhances the flavor of carob very well.

Carob chocolate in the cup

Ingredients (for 3 cups): 1/2 liter of almond milk (or the non-dairy milk of your choice); 6 tablespoons of carob flour; 1 tablespoon of cornmeal (cornstarch); optional: honey to sweeten

Put the milk with the flours in a saucepan, stir well and bring to medium heat. When it starts to boil, lower the heat and continue cooking, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes, until thickened, and serve.

Vegan carob tart

Ingredients: 140 g of flour; 60 g of carob flour; 120 g of brown sugar; 130 g of vegetable milk; 100 g of soy yogurt; 30 g of cornmeal; 1 envelope (16 g) of Royal type chemical yeast; 70g sunflower oil

In a bowl we sift the flours with the yeast. Add the yogurt, oil and milk, always mixing until you get a smooth and creamy dough. Pour into a previously oiled and floured 18 cm diameter mold. Bake for 40 minutes in a preheated oven at 180°C. Let cool for a few minutes, then remove from the mold and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Carob Chocolate Muffins (Vegan, Sugar Free, and Gluten Free)

Ingredients (12 muffins): 200 g of buckwheat flour (you can buy here); 50 g of almond flour (you can buy here); 15 g of carob flour; 10 g ground flax seeds (you can buy here); a pinch of baking soda; a pinch of salt; 80 g maple syrup (you can buy here); 100 g of apple puree; 50 ml of sunflower oil; 100 ml of vegetable milk; 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Pour the lemon juice into the vegetable milk and let it rest for 5 minutes. In a bowl we sift the buckwheat flour, carob flour, flax seeds and bicarbonate. Add the almond flour and salt without sifting. Add the milk, oil, syrup and applesauce, mix well.

We put the capsules in a muffin mold and fill them up to 3/4 with the dough. We bake at 180°C for about 25 minutes, click with a toothpick to see if they are ready.

Carob chocolate truffles

Ingredients: 1/2 cup of almonds; 1/2 ripe banana; 3 tablespoons of carob flour (plus a little more for coating)

Crush the almonds until we obtain a flour, leaving a handful aside that we will chop into small pieces to give a crunchy touch. Combine the almonds, the carob and the mashed banana with a fork. We mix until we have a dough, we form small balls with our hands and pass them through carob flour. Let rest for 1 hour in the fridge.

Sugar-free carob brownie

Ingredients: 30 g of almond flour (you can buy here); 50 g of carob flour; 200 g of date paste (you can buy it here); 100 g of rice flour (you can buy here); 4 tablespoons of vegetable milk; 2 eggs; 80 g of sunflower oil; 1 teaspoon of chemical yeast (Royal type); 1 pinch of salt; 60 g of pistachios (or the dried fruit of your choice).

Mix all the dry ingredients. In another bowl, we beat the eggs with the oil, the date paste and the vegetable milk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet bowl, mixing with a wire whisk.

Line a 20 x 20 cm mold with baking paper, distribute the dough, sprinkle with the chopped pistachios and bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for about 20 minutes.

If you liked this information about the carob fruit, you may also be interested in our guide on 50 foods with a low glycemic index:

The entry Carob flour, the substitute for chocolate (properties and recipes) was first published on PequeRecetas