Could Carob Ever Replace Chocolate for You?
By Pigglies
@Pigglies (9329)
United States
July 21, 2008 12:33am CST
I love chocolate and probably eat way too much of it. I like it in giant bars, in ice cream, in cookies, in candies, in cakes, etc. Someone told me before that carob was healthier, and I tried it and while it wasn't too bad, it wasn't chocolate. I don't get how it is a chocolate replacement, because to me the only thing similar was the color.
My brother however, loved carob and quickly devoured the whole bag of carob baking chips after I had opened it to try a few. He doesn't eat much chocolate since he is on a limited caffeine diet. He thought that was good stuff.
So do you like carob? Is it the same as chocolate to you?
2 people like this
9 responses
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
21 Jul 08
I've never had it but I could guess that it could not replace chocolate for me unless it tasted exactly the same :)
I love chocolate too.
1 person likes this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
22 Jul 08
Wow, I can't believe how many people haven't heard of it. I guess that makes me a health food nut? LOL
It definitely doesn't taste exactly the same. To me, it has it's own unique taste, but is not chocolate.
On the plus side, it is dog safe though. So for people who can't stop leaving their snacks out, maybe they should try this.
1 person likes this
@GnosticGoddess (5626)
• United States
25 Jul 08
That is a good idea :)
I tried Godiva chocolate the other day and I honestly like Hershey's better! My friend who bought it for me thought it was hilarious and couldn't believe it. It was good no doubt but Hershey's defines chocolate for me.
@LadyStrawberry (173)
• Slovenia
25 Jul 08
hmm... I tried carob baked goodies before too, & they were yummy!! :)
I never thought of carob as 'chocolate replacement', I guess I always perceived it as 'something different'.
Chocolate has a very different taste for me, but I guess I haven't tried some of the things people here talk about... :)
Just go into 'carob adventure' with open eyes, & expect something different!! Maybe something totally unrelated to chocolate..
If your brother is on a no-chocolate diet his taste will differ from yours, because our tastebuds adapt to what we eat... & he may genuinely find it yummy, cause he doesn't have an immediate comparison to 'the real thing'!
So, if you wanna enjoy carob products, don't expect them to taste anything like chocolate, & don't eat other sweet stuff or chocolate stuff around that time (before or after).
If one doesn't eat much sugar & such, you adapt to the taste of 'healthy food' & now 'normal chocolate' is muuch too sweet for me, I only like the bittersweet!!
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
25 Jul 08
You know, maybe it is also because when I think of chocolate, I think of bittersweet chocolate. I never cared for milk chocolate even when I did have dairy products in the past and carob kind of reminds me more of that. But still, you are right it is something different. Yet it is often marketed as a chocolate replacement.
I think you could be right about taste differing if you haven't had something in a long time. For example, when I first stopped eating meat, I couldn't eat any of the fake meats because they were disgusting. Now I'm sure that products have improved in the past 8 years, but now I've found vegan sausages that are delicious, I love veggie burgers (still only one kind though), and the meatballs are pretty good too. Sometimes though I am left wondering if the taste testers were people who had never eaten the real thing. But then again, I don't mind if things don't taste like the real thing, because these really don't. I just want them to taste good, and that becomes the new real thing for me.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (120533)
• United States
21 Jul 08
While I have heard of carob, I have never tried it. I don't even know where to go buy some. Maybe a health food store? I've shopped many times at a health food store, but I wasn't looking for carob, so maybe I just missed it. I know someone who made a cake with carob once, and she said it was a success. I'm all curious now and think I'll be on the lookout for carob.
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
22 Jul 08
I've found it at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and occasionally even our regular supermarkets have it.
I have tried baked goods that used carob powder, and I must say those were not bad at all. I've tried others that used half carob and half cocoa powder and those could have fooled me. But the carob chips substituted for chocolate chips don't fool me at all.
1 person likes this
@cursedsoul (925)
• India
26 Jul 08
Nothing could replace authentic chocolate. I'm sure many agree..
@cobrateacher (8432)
• United States
21 Jul 08
Several sources touted the healthy points of replacing chocolate with carob, so I tries it. Sorry, carob lovers; to me it tasted like totally stale, poorly stored for many years and having lost its taste and texture, poor quality chocolate. I guess yo can tell I really don't like it! It had sort of a straw-like texture, and its taste is horrible! Whoever decided this could be a substitute for chocolate must have had handicapped taste buds!
@frankiecesca (2489)
•
21 Jul 08
I have never even heard of it! What is it a chocolate replacement?? x
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
25 Jul 08
I heard of carob and seen it in health food stores, but have not tried it. I do not have a problem with caffeine, so have not tried it. I do not know if it has the same taste as chocolate. I would rather have chocolate since I like its taste. But some of the cookies we used to buy at the grocers did not taste that much of chocolate (they just ran the chocolate bean over the batter and put brown coloring inside) so I guess they could substitute carob in those cases.
@revellanotvanella (4033)
• United States
26 Jul 08
I wouldnt say I love it, our local Co-op have plenty different versions of cookies and many include carob and I like most of them but I just do not want to be eating it all the time but my favorite chocolate is dark and if its with orange rind, all the better! Cadbury's dark choc fruit and nut bars too.
