Photos Kormakitis by George Konstantinou
Ceratonia siliqua, commonly known as the carob tree, St John's-bread, or locust bean (not to be confused with the African locust bean) is a species of flowering evergreen shrub or tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens. The ripe, dried pod is often ground to carob powder, which is used to replace cocoa powder. Carob bars, an alternative to chocolate bars, are often available in health-food stores.
The carob tree is native to the Mediterranean region, including Southern Europe, Northern Africa, the larger Mediterranean islands, the Levant and Middle-East of Western Asia into Iran; and the Canary Islands and Macaronesia. The word "carat", a unit of mass for gemstones and a unit of purity for gold alloys, was possibly derived from the Greek word kerátion literally meaning a small horn, and refers to the carob seed as a unit of weight.
The Ceratonia siliqua tree grows up to 15 m (49 ft) tall. The crown is broad and semispherical, supported by a thick trunk with brown rough bark and sturdy branches. Leaves are 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in) long, alternate, pinnate, and may or may not have a terminal leaflet. It is frost-tolerant to roughly 20°F.
Most carob trees are dioecious, some are hermaphrodite. The male trees do not produce fruit. The trees blossom in autumn. The flowers are small and numerous, spirally arranged along the inflorescence axis in catkin-like racemes borne on spurs from old wood and even on the trunk (cauliflory); they are pollinated by both wind and insects.
The fruit is a legume (also known less accurately as a pod), that can be elongated, compressed, straight, or curved, and thickened at the sutures. The pods take a full year to develop and ripen. The sweet ripe pods eventually fall to the ground and are eaten by various mammals, thereby dispersing the hard seed. The seeds contain leucodelphinidin, a colourless chemical compound
Although used extensively for agriculture, carob can still be found growing wild in eastern Mediterranean regions, and has become naturalized in the west.
The tree is typical in the southern Portuguese region of the Algarve, where it has the name alfarrobeira (for the tree), and alfarroba (for the fruit), as well as in southern Spain (Spanish: algarrobo, algarroba), Catalonia and Valencia (Catalan: garrofer, garrofa), Malta (Maltese: Ħarruba), on the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia (Italian: carrubo, carruba), Croatian islands near Split, and in Southern Greece, Cyprus, as well as on many Greek islands such as Crete and Samos. The common Greek name is (Greek: χαρουπιά, charoupia), or (Greek: ξυλοκερατιά, ksilokeratia), meaning "wooden horn".
In Turkey, it is known as keçiboynuzu, meaning "goat's horn". In Israel, it is called haroov (חרוב), known as "life saving tree" - kav kharoovin. The various trees known as algarrobo in Latin America (Albizia saman in Cuba and four species of Prosopis in Argentina and Paraguay) belong to a different subfamily, Mimosoideae.
The carob genus, Ceratonia, belongs to the Fabaceae (legume) family, and is believed to be an archaic remnant of a part of this family now generally considered extinct. It grows well in warm temperate and subtropical areas, and tolerates hot and humid coastal areas. As a xerophyte (drought-resistant) species, carob is well adapted to the ecological conditions of the Mediterranean region with 250 to 500 mm of rainfall per year.
Carob trees can survive long drought periods, but to grow fruit, they need 500 to 550 mm rainfall per year. Trees prefer well-drained, sandy loams and are intolerant of waterlogging, but the deep root systems can adapt to a wide variety of soil conditions and are fairly salt-tolerant (up to 3% NaCl in soil). After irrigation with saline water in summer, carob trees could possibly also recover during rainfalls in winter. In some experiments young carob trees could uphold basical physiological functions at 40 mmol NaCl/l.
Not all legume species can develop a symbiosis with rhizobia to use atmospheric nitrogen. For carob, it remains unclear if it has this ability: Some findings suggest that it is not able to form nodules with rhizobia, while in another study trees have been identified more recently with nodules containing bacteria believed to be from the Rhizobium genus.[10] However, measuring the 15N-signal in plant tissue did not support that carob trees in the field can use atmospheric nitrogen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ceratonia siliqua, commonly known as the carob tree, St John's-bread, or locust bean (not to be confused with the African locust bean) is a species of flowering evergreen shrub or tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated for its edible pods, and as an ornamental tree in gardens. The ripe, dried pod is often ground to carob powder, which is used to replace cocoa powder. Carob bars, an alternative to chocolate bars, are often available in health-food stores.
The carob tree is native to the Mediterranean region, including Southern Europe, Northern Africa, the larger Mediterranean islands, the Levant and Middle-East of Western Asia into Iran; and the Canary Islands and Macaronesia. The word "carat", a unit of mass for gemstones and a unit of purity for gold alloys, was possibly derived from the Greek word kerátion literally meaning a small horn, and refers to the carob seed as a unit of weight.
The Ceratonia siliqua tree grows up to 15 m (49 ft) tall. The crown is broad and semispherical, supported by a thick trunk with brown rough bark and sturdy branches. Leaves are 10 to 20 cm (3.9 to 7.9 in) long, alternate, pinnate, and may or may not have a terminal leaflet. It is frost-tolerant to roughly 20°F.
Most carob trees are dioecious, some are hermaphrodite. The male trees do not produce fruit. The trees blossom in autumn. The flowers are small and numerous, spirally arranged along the inflorescence axis in catkin-like racemes borne on spurs from old wood and even on the trunk (cauliflory); they are pollinated by both wind and insects.
The fruit is a legume (also known less accurately as a pod), that can be elongated, compressed, straight, or curved, and thickened at the sutures. The pods take a full year to develop and ripen. The sweet ripe pods eventually fall to the ground and are eaten by various mammals, thereby dispersing the hard seed. The seeds contain leucodelphinidin, a colourless chemical compound
Although used extensively for agriculture, carob can still be found growing wild in eastern Mediterranean regions, and has become naturalized in the west.
The tree is typical in the southern Portuguese region of the Algarve, where it has the name alfarrobeira (for the tree), and alfarroba (for the fruit), as well as in southern Spain (Spanish: algarrobo, algarroba), Catalonia and Valencia (Catalan: garrofer, garrofa), Malta (Maltese: Ħarruba), on the Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia (Italian: carrubo, carruba), Croatian islands near Split, and in Southern Greece, Cyprus, as well as on many Greek islands such as Crete and Samos. The common Greek name is (Greek: χαρουπιά, charoupia), or (Greek: ξυλοκερατιά, ksilokeratia), meaning "wooden horn".
In Turkey, it is known as keçiboynuzu, meaning "goat's horn". In Israel, it is called haroov (חרוב), known as "life saving tree" - kav kharoovin. The various trees known as algarrobo in Latin America (Albizia saman in Cuba and four species of Prosopis in Argentina and Paraguay) belong to a different subfamily, Mimosoideae.
The carob genus, Ceratonia, belongs to the Fabaceae (legume) family, and is believed to be an archaic remnant of a part of this family now generally considered extinct. It grows well in warm temperate and subtropical areas, and tolerates hot and humid coastal areas. As a xerophyte (drought-resistant) species, carob is well adapted to the ecological conditions of the Mediterranean region with 250 to 500 mm of rainfall per year.
Carob trees can survive long drought periods, but to grow fruit, they need 500 to 550 mm rainfall per year. Trees prefer well-drained, sandy loams and are intolerant of waterlogging, but the deep root systems can adapt to a wide variety of soil conditions and are fairly salt-tolerant (up to 3% NaCl in soil). After irrigation with saline water in summer, carob trees could possibly also recover during rainfalls in winter. In some experiments young carob trees could uphold basical physiological functions at 40 mmol NaCl/l.
Not all legume species can develop a symbiosis with rhizobia to use atmospheric nitrogen. For carob, it remains unclear if it has this ability: Some findings suggest that it is not able to form nodules with rhizobia, while in another study trees have been identified more recently with nodules containing bacteria believed to be from the Rhizobium genus.[10] However, measuring the 15N-signal in plant tissue did not support that carob trees in the field can use atmospheric nitrogen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Photos 13/8/2011 by George Konstantinou
Συλλογή χαρουπιών και παρασκευή χαρουπόμελου
Photos 31/8/2011 by George Konstantinou
Παρασκευή
χαρουπόμελου - Υλικά: Χαρούπια, νερό
Πλένουμε τα χαρούπια και τα κόβουμε σε κομματάκια 1-2 εκατοστών (το επίπονο μέρος της διαδικασίας)
Τα βάζουμε σε μεγάλη κατσαρόλα και προσθέτουμε νερό ώστε να τα σκεπάζει κατά δύο δάκτυλα περίπου. Βάζουμε την κατσαρόλα να βράσει και αφαιρούμε όσο μπορούμε από τον αφρό που δημιουργείται. Αφού βράσουν 5 λεπτά αποσύρουμε από τη φωτιά.
Αφήνουμε να μείνουν 24-48 ώρες ώστε τα χαρούπια να αφήσουν όλο το μέλι τους στο νερό μας.
Τελικά σουρώνουμε το υγρό και το βάζουμε να βράζει σε μέτρια θερμοκρασία ως ότου δέσει και αποκτήσει την υφή και την πυκνότητα του πετιμεζιού, λίγο δηλαδή πιο ρευστό από το μέλι.
Πηγή: https://www.cretangastronomy.gr/2011/09/xaroupomelo/
