Carob
Ceratonia siliqua

Grown mostly in Greece and Spain, the carob tree is also known as the "locust tree" or "St. John's Bread," because of a theory that the "locusts" eaten by John the Baptist while he was in the wilderness were actually carob pods. It could be true — carob is a nutritious food with a sweet taste that serves well as a substitute for chocolate. Carob is also called " locust bean gum" and used to stabilize and thicken foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. The jeweler's "carat" is named after carob, because in early times the uniformly sized seeds of this tree were used as units of measurement when weighing precious gems.

Commonly called: roasted carob