History of Carob
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is one of the oldest cultivated trees in the Mediterranean basin. It turned into a sign meaning "sweet" in ancient Egyptian writing, gained a place in the Greek and Roman world as both a food and weight unit, and became widespread in the Middle Ages with the interest of Arab and Andalusian agricultural writers.
In this article, we summarize the possible origin of carob, current genetic findings on its domestication, the ways in which it was used from antiquity to the present day and how it spread around the world, based on sources. We also discuss how this fruit, which was once considered "food for the poor", has turned into a valuable industrial raw material.
The Origin of Carob: A Story Older Than the Mediterranean
Although carob is seen as a symbol of the Mediterranean climate today, scientists think that the ancestors of the species are much older than this climate. According to a review published in the Turkish Journal of Botany, carob most likely has a pre-Mediterranean, tropical origin; It is supported by genetic, fossil and physiological evidence that its ancestors spread around the ancient Tethys Sea during the Paleogene period. As the climate changed to today's Mediterranean conditions over time, these tropical forests narrowed, while carob continued its existence by adapting to new conditions.
In an earlier study, Ramón-Laca and Mabberley evaluated the present distribution of the species through botanical, archaeological, historical and linguistic evidence; they suggested that carob may have originated around southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa and was already found in the ancient Middle East. In the same study, it is stated that the genus Ceratonia was present in the wild flora of western Europe before the ice ages and that the spread of the species to the western Mediterranean probably occurred gradually from the second millennium BC.
In short, there is no single and definitive answer to the question of "where carob comes from". Evidence from different disciplines shows that the tree was distributed throughout the Mediterranean over a very long period of time, both naturally and by human hands.
What Does Genetic Research Say About Domestication?
For many years, the most accepted view is known as the "eastern refuge" hypothesis. According to this approach, carob survived the glacial periods around Arabia and was then transported to the western Mediterranean via Mesopotamia by human hands. The fact that a significant part of the carob names in European languages are of Arabic origin is also considered among the evidence supporting this view.
However, genetic studies in recent years have changed the picture. In the study published by Baumel et al. in the journal Molecular Ecology in 2022, 56 populations from different regions of the Mediterranean were classified as wild, semi-natural and cultivated populations; more than a thousand microsatellite genotypes and thousands of SNP markers were examined. The results indicate that carob spread from west to east, most likely from a long-term refuge in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains in Morocco near the Atlantic.
Perhaps the most intriguing finding of the study is that domestication did not occur in a single center, but many times and largely by selecting local wild trees. According to the authors, there has also been a transport of domesticated varieties over long distances; however, this is more of an occasional movement associated with Roman, Greek, and Arab migrations. The review in the Turkish Journal of Botany summarizes these new findings, emphasizing that the "single refuge" model has been questioned.
Carob in Ancient Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean
One of the most striking traces of carob in the ancient world appears in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The sign registered with the code M29 in the hieroglyphic sign lists depicts a carob pod and is mostly used in the sense of "being sweet" with the pronunciation "nḏm". It is recorded that the same sign is used in the sense of "carob tree". In other words, the Egyptians chose the bean of the carob when writing down the concept of sweetness; this is a nice detail that shows how well the sweet taste of the fruit was known at that time.
In a study prepared by the University of Southern California on plant-human relations, it is reported that carob was included in the votive list on the wall of a tomb temple dated to 2565-2420 BC. In the same source, it is also stated that carob pods and seeds were found in Egyptian tombs. We also discuss the detailed usage patterns in Ancient Egypt in our article titled "Carob in Ancient Egypt and Greece".
In the Eastern Mediterranean, the place of carob in the diet has often been described as "food for difficult times". According to the compilation in the Turkish Journal of Botany, the Jewish texts of the Mishnah period, covering the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD, document the use and cultivation of carob; the pods were consumed by people during periods of famine and used as animal feed when the period of abundance came.
The Greek and Roman World: From a Fruit to a Unit of Measurement
Traces of carob in the Greek and Roman world are most clearly seen in the language. In Greek, "keras" means horn; the carob seed was called "keration", meaning "small horn". According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, keration refers to both the carob seed and a small unit of weight, and corresponds to the Roman unit "siliqua". Siliqua is defined as the twenty-fourth of the solidus, the gold coin of Constantine the Great.
Roman writers also recognized carob. The compilation in the Turkish Journal of Botany states that Columella referred to the tree as "siliqua Graeca" (Greek pod), while Pliny the Elder reported that the Ionians called this tree "ceronia". The scientific name Ceratonia siliqua also combines these two roots, namely the Greek meaning of horn and the Latin meaning of pod.
The use of carob seeds as a measure of weight and the birth of the word carat from this use is the most well-known story in the history of carob. However, the belief that the seeds "all weigh the same" has not been scientifically confirmed. We explore this topic in detail in our article titled "Carat Measurement and Carob Seed: Myth or Reality?"
Arab Agronomy and Andalusia: The Golden Age of Carob
The medieval Islamic world has a special place in the large-scale spread of carob in the Mediterranean. Ramón-Laca and Mabberley concluded that today's cultural varieties were most likely chosen by Muslims in the Middle Ages, based on the fact that most of the carob names in European languages other than Greece and southern Italy are of Arabic origin. "algarrobo" in Spanish comes from the same root as the Arabic "harrûb".
According to the compilation in the Turkish Journal of Botany, carob cultivation reached its peak after the Arab conquests, especially in the Levant region. The 10th-century Arabic agricultural book Kitâbü'l-Filâha en-Nabatiyye had a great impact in the eastern Mediterranean and Andalusia. Andalusian writers such as Ibn Hajjaj al-Ishbîlî, Abu'l-Hayr al-Ishbîlî and Ibn al-Awwâm recorded carob varieties and propagation methods. These methods include techniques such as seed cultivation, propagation by cuttings and grafting.
According to the same source, it is likely that Arab and Andalusian Muslims played a decisive role in the spread of carob in the Iberian Peninsula. After the expulsion of the Moriscos in 1609, the tree's popularity declined, and in some regions carob was identified with famine, and this negative image persisted for a long time.
Spread to the New World and Other Continents
Carob was also transported out of the Mediterranean. The compilation in the Turkish Journal of Botany states that the tree was taken to regions such as California, Chile, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, India and China, mostly through Mediterranean immigrants or British colonial administrators. It is also stated in the compilation that the entry into the USA dates back to 1854.
Behind this spread lies the resilience of carob. Being a tree that can adapt to drought and poor soils has made it worth trying in new regions with similar climates. However, production outside the Mediterranean has not reached the volume of traditional production regions in the Mediterranean throughout history.
From Famine Food to Industrial Raw Materials
Carob has had two different faces throughout its history. On one hand, it was seen as the "bread of the poor" and was consumed as animal feed and survival food during times of famine. In the parable of the Prodigal Son in the sacred texts, the pods eaten by pigs are often interpreted as carob, reflecting this image of "humble food". On the other hand, the use of its seed as a unit of measurement has given carob a permanent place in the world of precious stones and gold.
In the 20th century, this duality gained a new dimension. The carob gamut obtained from the endosperm of the seed has become one of the important thickeners of the food industry; the fleshy part of the fruit has also been transformed into products such as flour, powder, molasses and extract. Thus, the seed, which was once considered a by-product, has become one of the main elements that determine the economic value of the fruit. This transformation What is Carob Seed? We explain it in detail in our article.
Despite this, world production has declined in the long term. According to the review in the Turkish Journal of Botany, world carob production decreased from about 650,000 tons in 1945 to about 183,915 tons on average in 2012–2021; this means a decrease of about 72 percent. The authors cite aging orchards and a lack of renewal and replanting programs as the main reasons for this decline.
Historical Place of Carob in Turkey
The Mediterranean coast of Anatolia is one of the regions where natural and cultural forms of carob coexist. Based on a 1980 study by Hillcoat et al., the review in the Turkish Journal of Botany lists Turkey among the regions where wild carob is recorded, along with countries such as Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Egypt.
In the same review, it is stated that Turkey is the fifth largest carob producer in the world according to the data for the 2012-2021 period. In the compilation, 1,911 hectares of harvest area and 15,489 tons of production figures are given in Turkey for this period. These figures are the averages of the period based on international statistics; TURKSTAT statistics should be consulted for annual official production data.
In Turkey, carob is not only an agricultural product, but also a culinary culture. Traditional products made from carob, especially molasses, have been passed down from generation to generation. The process of making molasses What is Carob Molasses and How is it Made? You can find it in our article.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where did carob first appear?
There is no definitive answer. While older studies point to southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa, a genetic study published in 2022 suggests a long-term refuge in the western Mediterranean, in the foothills of the High Atlas in Morocco.
Was carob domesticated in one place?
Current genetic findings show that domestication occurred many times and largely by selecting local wild trees.
Does the word carat really come from carob?
Yes. Etymological sources link the word karat to the Greek word "keration" (carob seed) through the Arabic "carat". However, the belief that the seeds are all the same weight has not been scientifically confirmed.
Why is carob called "poor food"?
Historical texts indicate that pods were consumed by humans during periods of scarcity and by animals during periods of abundance. For this reason, it was considered a modest food for a long time.
Carob Today with Carob Türkiye
Carob, which has a history of thousands of years, is used in a wide range of areas from the food industry to home cuisine. As Carob Türkiye, we supply carob fruit, cracks, flour/powder, seeds and extracts.
Our Products Our Products You can examine the general characteristics of carob on the page. What is Carob? You can read it in our article. For your wholesale and export requests Contact Now You can contact us on our page.
Domestic resources
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org/ 10. 55730/ 1300- 008X. 2748 Kallek, C., "Kırat", TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, V. 25, pp. 437–438. islamancyclopedia.
org. en/ Kirat Foreign sources
Baumel, A., Nieto Feliner, G., Médail, F., La Malfa, S., Di Guardo, M., Bou Dagher Kharrat, M., Lakhal-Mirleau, F., Frelon, V., Ouahmane, L., Diadema, K., Sanguin, H., Viruel, J., "Genome-wide footprints in the carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua) unveil a new domestication pattern of a fruit tree in the Mediterranean", Molecular Ecology, 31(15), 4095–4111, 2022. doi.
org/ 10. 1111/ mec. 16563 Ramón-Laca, L., Mabberley, D. J., "The ecological status of the carob-tree (Ceratonia siliqua, Leguminosae) in the Mediterranean", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 144(4), 431–436, 2004. doi.
org/ 10. 1111/ j. 1095- 8339. 2003. 00254. x Turnbull, L. A., Santamaria, L., Martorell, T., Rallo, J., Hector, A., "Seed size variability: from carob to carats", Biology Letters, 2(3), 397–400, 2006. doi.
org/ 10. 1098/ rsbl. 2006. 0476 Fuson, C., Yee, S., "Carob: From Pod to Pantry", Plants & People: The Intersection of Botany and Human Experience, University of Southern California (Scalar), 2022. scalar.
USC. edu/ works/ plants- and- people/ carob- from- pod- to- … Thot Sign List, "M29 – A pod of a carob (Ceratonia siliqua) tree" (TSL_1_3975). thotsignlist.
org/ mysign?id=3975 Online Etymology Dictionary, "carat". etymonline.
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