CAROB POD

[Gr., ke·raʹti·on].

In the illustration of the prodigal son, Jesus describes the starving lad as desiring to eat the carob pods that were fed to the pigs. (Luke 15:16) These pods grow on the carob tree, an attractive evergreen that grows throughout Palestine as well as in the rest of the Mediterranean area. The tree reaches a height up to thirty feet (9 meters), with small glistening leaves resembling those of the ash. The fruit or pods have a shiny leathery shell of a purplish-brown color and, in harmony with their name in Greek (ke·raʹti·on, meaning “little horn”), have a curved horn shape. They measure from six to ten inches (15 to 25 centimeters) in length and about one inch (2.54 centimeters) wide. Inside are several pealike seeds separated from one another by a sweet sticky pulp.

They are widely used till this day as a food for horses, cattle and pigs. The island of Cyprus alone now produces an annual crop of some thirty to forty thousand tons (27,216,000 to 36,288,000 kilograms) of carobs. Grafting of the trees is employed to produce a fruit of improved quality, equal in nutrition to wheat. People also eat them, and the dried-up pods are ground up and used in making candy. The ungrafted carob trees, however, produce fruit that is poor in sugar, thin and dry. It may be that the carob pods that Jesus had in mind in his illustration were of this kind. The carob tree is also known as the “locust tree,” and the pods are frequently called “Saint-John’s-bread” due to the erroneous idea that it was this fruit that John the Baptist ate, rather than insect locusts.

At one time the beans of the carob tree (Gr., ke·ra·teʹa) were used as standards of weight, and hence the word “carat” is derived from their name.