Carob

Cultivated from the pulp of the pods that grow on the evergreen tree Ceratonia silqua. The pods have a brown, leathery skin that fill with a sweet gum when they are ripe. The pods are also known as locust beans because they supposedly resemble these large insects. The endosperm of the seeds is ground to produce locust bean gum, which is used as a stabilizer in commercial food production. Both locust beans (carob pods) and a candy made from carob are known as St. John’s bread, stemming from the biblical story describing how St. John the Baptist survived in the desert by eating locusts and honey. However, it is not known whether the locusts referred to were carob pods or the actual insects.