The small flowers are 4-5cm long, greenish-yellow to red and have no petals. The female flowers develop into pods resembling green broad beans and become a glossy dark brown colour with maturity. Measuring 10–25cm and weighing 20–40 grams, each pod contains sweet, chocolate-flavoured pulp and up to 15 seeds. Similar in size to a watermelon seed, carob seeds are hard and brown in colour.
Whole carob pods are used unprocessed as stock feed or coarsely ground (“kibbled”) to separate the seed and pulp. The seed is usually sold to be processed into gum and used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and pet food industries; or it is used in the manufacture of inks, paints, ceramics, paper and chewing gum. The kibbled pulp is used as stock feed, sold as is to the food industry or processed (raw or roasted) into powder or syrup. High in nutritional value and flavour, carob powder or syrup is a natural sweetener and a caffeine-free cocoa substitute, used in a range of food products including confectionery, syrups, pastes and desserts.
Carobs have been grown in Australia since settlers were encouraged to plant seeds in the 1890s. As in the Mediterranean region, the tree was valued for shade, windbreaks, shelter, food, fodder and beautification. Despite the early success of plantings, Australia’s first commercial carob orchards were not established until the early 1980s. Plantings have steadily increased since due to new industry developments, including the availability of grafted cultivars, technical information, the ability to harvest mechanically and the opportunity to sell raw pods to Australian processors for milling and on-selling of seed.
Carob production is a small but growing industry, and the interests of growers are represented by Carobs Australia Inc.
Facts and figures
- Carob trees are best grown in conditions similar to the Mediterranean climate and alkaline soils from which they originate, and are tolerant of drought, salinity and frost
- The Australian carob industry has been evolving since the early 1980s, with the export industry only established in 2014, production levels are low compared with other participants in the world market
- Carob trees, seeds and pods, have a multitude of uses, spanning dozens of industries
- A slow growing crop, carob trees can take up to 10 years to reach full commercial production levels
While carob is grown in six states and territories of Australia, the key production regions are western New South Wales, southern South Australia and the northern agricultural region of Western Australia. New plantings are in western areas of New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and in the agricultural areas of South Australia and Western Australia.
The growing area is about 400ha, mainly located in the states of South Australia (34%), and Western Australia (20%). In the other states there are an estimated 30,000 seedling carobs within and adjacent to fenced grazing areas for sheep and cattle.