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carobSome years ago when visiting the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem  in Jerusalem, my partner noticed that the Carob trees had seed pods and plucked one to bring home to me.

Two trees were successful in germinating, and they are now planted close to each other in Ariston.

I was totally delighted when I noticed one of them flowering last week.

Research :

Carob consumed by humans is the dried (and sometimes roasted) pod, and not the ‘nuts’ or seeds. Carob is mildly sweet and is used in powdered, chip, or syrup form as an ingredient in cakes and cookies, and as a substitute for chocolate.

Ceratonia siliqua, the scientific name of the carob tree, derives from the Greek kerátiοn (κεράτιον), “fruit of the carob” (from keras [κέρας] “horn”), and Latin siliqua “pod, carob.” The term “carat“, the unit by which gem weight is measured, is also derived from the Greek word kerátiοn (κεράτιον), alluding to an ancient practice of weighing gold and gemstones against the seeds of the carob tree by people in the Middle East. The system was eventually standardized, and one carat was fixed at 0.2 grams.

In late Roman times, the pure gold coin known as the solidus weighed 24 carat seeds (about 4.5 grams). As a result, the carat also became a measure of purity for gold. Thus 24-carat gold means 100% pure, 12-carat gold means the alloy contains 50% gold, etc.

Source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceratonia_siliqua