stories : Nagging Question
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The ’70s RevisitedIs carob really better for you than chocolate? |
Is carob really healthier than chocolate?
When your hippie mother fed it to you in the ’70s, she thought carob was a miracle replacement for chocolate. And it is ever so slightly healthier in a few respects. Unlike cocoa, carob does not contain caffeine or theobromine, another mild stimulant that actually elevates mood in humans but is the reason large quantities of chocolate are dangerous to dogs and cats. (They metabolize the chemical more slowly than we do, so it can build up in their bodies, poisoning them). People who are allergic to chocolate can generally eat carob without a problem (as can dogs and cats).
Carob powder is naturally sweeter and lower in fat than cocoa powder. However, the fat and sugar added to both powders to turn them into something tasty wipes out those differences. “The total fat and calorie content of carob and cocoa in the candy form [is] typically the same,” says Dr. Amy E. Griel, a postdoctoral intern in dietetics at Pennsylvania State University. What’s more, cocoa is high in stearic acid, a saturated fat that does not raise cholesterol levels, while carob “chocolate” is often made with palm or coconut oils, which are known to raise cholesterol. Cocoa also contains flavonoids, a group of antioxidant compounds that studies have shown can help with hypertension, insulin sensitivity, platelet function, and immune response, Griel says.
Carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua) have been farmed in the Middle East for at least 4,000 years. Their edible pods are traditionally eaten on Tu B’shevat, a Jewish holiday celebrating trees. The seeds inside the pods were also traditionally used to weigh diamonds, which is where we get the word carat from.
Ha! I'm sending this to my mom right now for making me suffer through carob all those years.
Call me crazy, but I love the smell of the broken-open carob pods in my neighborhood, and I do have a soft spot for carob coated raisins. You just can't think of it as chocolate.
i agree that its kind of a different animal. i love them both, tho i do enjoy chocolate a lot more. i think that in the end of the day tho, like the article points out, the sugar, etc used in processing both cacao and carob make most of the difference not worth considering.
I love them both -- but carob has a sense-memory for me of being in So. Cal in the early '90's. . . . wearing birkenstocks and my broom skirt. Ahhh, the memories.
(and I love carob covered almonds!)
Oops, Jason, you didn't answer the question.
You compared carob to cocoa powder, which has different nutritional properties from chocolate.
Additionally, there are two kinds of cocoa powder: alkali- or Dutch-processed cocoa and natural. They have far different nutritional
properties. (The alkali destroys most of the flavenoids, for example.)
Dark chocolate is the "healthful" chocolate,
with its healthful properties increasing as the percentage of cocoa solids increases. (You still have to consider that most chocolate is full of fat and contains some sugar.)
Milk chocolate contains very few flavenols, and the milk gets in the way of the antioxidants being used by the human body.
Try again please, Jason.
Perhaps research more thoroughly the nutrition of chocolate vs. cocoa powder types vs. carob, the antioxidant properties of carob, and the latest medical studies on chocolate and cardiovascular health, and chocolate and mood. Make sure it's a legitimate medical study.
Please tell folks what to look for on labels, and explain how most American-made chocolate contains no true chocolate.
(Not sure, but does anybody even care about carob anymore?)
What a know it all -- go Yelp!
Hershey,
It's a basic expectation to expect an author to answer the question he himself asks.
Jason has written many fine stories; this just isn't one.
Specifically, Jason comparied carob not to chocolate, as stated in his question, but to cocoa powder, which has far different nutritional properites.
Additionally, cocoa powder itself differs in nutrition depending on whether it is Dutch-processed or natural.
Carob has more nutritional benefits than were stated, as does chocolate, so the comparison was even further misinformed.
It's not that I'm a know it all; it's that when an author pens an article, you expect him to do a healthy amount of research digging up information from credible sources, and, at the very least, answer the question he himself poses.
maria lorraine, would you care to explain your statement that "most American-made chocolate contains no real chocolate" in particular addressing what you mean by "most," "no" and "true chocolate."
OK, Ruth, I'll try. I know you are a chocolate aficianado.
"most American-made chocolate [meaning, by volume in pounds] contains no [meaning, zero] real chocolate [meaning, possessing cacao that has not been processed into cocoa powder, or crumb]."
reread what he said, he said carob powder is sweeter than cocoa powder
I love chocolate ... but it makes me break out (Please don’t tell me it really doesn’t. Trust me! I have done extensive testing on myself ...LOL... I love it but just can’t eat it.) It is getting more difficult to find it in regular groceries now that all the claims of it being so great are out now. Even the ‘healthy’ labels have it now when they use to use carob.
Still love the taste of really dark chocolate and carob. Milk chocolate and the like hold no value for my taste buds.