Hestia Group News

Driving around cyprus in your hire Car you will see a huge variety of flowers, bushes, shrubs and trees. One of the more interesting and native to the Eastern Mediterranean region is the Carob Tree. The Carob was highly prized by the Ancient Greeks amongst others, it has been cultivated for at least 4000 years and there are references to it in the Bible.  It has been called ‘St John’s bread’ or ‘locust bean’, and for a time it was thought that this referred to the ‘locusts’ that St John ate during his time in the wilderness.  However, although St John might have found the carob pod more palatable, he did in fact survive on the migratory insect variety!

The seeds of the carob were used as weights measure for gold, hence the name ‘carat’.  In other countries, the seeds have been ground and used as a coffee substitute, but here in cyprus, the ground seeds are made into Carob Honey or ‘charoupomelo’, a sticky, rich confection rather like molasses in consistency and delicious when it is enjoyed with bread or yoghurt and also used to flavour milkshakes.  The honey can be taken a stage further by kneading and stretching until it becomes a golden caramel colour and can be eaten as chewy toffee ‘pastelli’, often covered with sesame seeds.

Technically a legume, the carob is probably best known as a popular cocoa substitute, probably because it has only 1/3 the calories and is virtually fat free!  The ground-up pods are used for this and contain important vitamins and minerals and are used in many health foods.  The pods have also been widely used as animal feed and are relished by goats, pigs, cattle and rabbits, with carob flour being used in dog biscuits.

Remnants of the carob’s place in cyprus history can be found in Limassol next to the Medieval Castle near the old port.  The Carob Mill played a vital part in cyprus economy of the time and the carob became one of the islands’ most important exports.  It became known locally as ‘Black Gold’ and the mill which was originally built as warehouses, became the production centre for carobs where they would be collected, separated into the sub products, and then ground before being carried by donkey to the port nearby for global distribution.  The Mill is now a fascinating collection of restaurants, cafes and shops, and old mill machinery can be found dating from 19th century.