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What is Carob?
Our homemade carob “hot chocolate.”
Carob is a bean that is often used as a substitute for the cacao bean (a.k.a. the cocoa bean, or chocolate) because of its similar taste. But unlike cacao, Carob is safe for people with chocolate allergies. It’s also a superfood that does not contain caffeine.
Chocolate Allergy
We discovered carob because of Isabelle’s chocolate allergy/intolerance. In addition to being celiac/coeliac, this is one of the many things that she cannot eat. However, it’s also the easiest food to avoid because if chocolate is in something, it’s usually advertised right on the front of the package. In other words, unlike corn or soy, it’s not often that companies try to sneak chocolate into our food. They want us to know it’s there, which makes it super easy to cut it out.
At the same time as we’ve been able to avoid chocolate with little issues, it’s not like we don’t miss being able to eat it. While Peter can, we cannot bake anything together that contains chocolate (which is a pain when you love to bake).
The other major problem is that even if Isabelle can technically be around chocolate without eating it and be fine, she cannot stand the smell. This is actually something that can happen with food intolerances. Whenever anyone bakes cookies with chocolate chips it usually isn’t so bad, but Isabelle cannot stand the smell of chocolate brownies baking… unfortunately for Peter.
Chocolate vs. Carob
Despite seeming so similar in terms of how they look, taste, and grow, carob is safe for people with a chocolate allergy. They might not taste 100% the same, but if you cannot eat chocolate then carob is the next best thing.
If you have developed a chocolate allergy (like Isabelle) and you haven’t had chocolate in forever, then you’ll probably think that carob tastes just like it (but without the smell or taste that makes you sick). However, if you can have chocolate then carob definitely won’t quite the same. Carob tastes most similar to dark or bittersweet chocolate.
Even though it will never be an exact match for chocolate, you can do a few things to make carob taste better, like adding cinnamon or coffee to any baked goods (or hot “chocolate”) containing carob.
Where to Find Carob
If you are looking for premade carob chips or carob bars, the only place we have seen them ourselves is Whole Foods.
We actually make our carob chips from scratch in order to avoid dairy or soy (using this recipe that we found). We buy Bob’s Red Mill or Chatfield’s. Both work well, but we would suggest sifting them before using them to avoid it clumping.
How to Make Hot Carob (for a Chocolate Allergy)
This recipe can be made with homemade carob chips, store-bought carob chips, or even dark chocolate chips (if you don’t have a chocolate allergy but still want to follow the recipe). It is completely gluten-free, vegan, and dairy free.
Note: This recipe is for one serving. To make this for multiple people, adjust the proportions as needed.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/4 cup non-dairy creamer
- 1/4 cup carob chips (we follow this recipe)
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon (adjust to taste)
Directions
Making our carob “hot chocolate.”
- Begin by adding your non-dairy milk and creamer to a small pot (or larger if you’re making more than one serving) and heat on medium for about 5 minutes.
- Add your carob chips and cinnamon to the warm milk and cream and stir in with a large plastic or metal spoon.
- Allow the carob chips to melt, slowly. Raise the heat to medium-high if needed. (Tip: If you’ve made fresh carob chips, then don’t let them set and add 1/4 cup liquid carob so that you can skip the melting step).
- While the carob is melting, keep stirring until it is no longer separated from the milk. (The photo above shows the carob while it is still melting and separated from the milk, which is completely normal.)
- Once the milk starts to bubble, take the carob and milk mixture off of the stovetop so that it doesn’t burn or boil over. Stir it through off of the heat to make sure that it is smooth.
- Pour into a mug and serve.