Carob

The Algarve is carob country – Portugal is one of the world’s leading producers of carob pods.

The carob is an evergreen tree of the legume family with a spreading crown and leathery, glossy leaves divided into pairs of leaflets. Its small, petal-less flowers grow directly on the trunk and older branches. The fruits are long, flat, dark brown pods with sweet pulp, known as St John’s bread. In antiquity the hard seeds were used as weights – the word carat comes from their Greek name, keration. The tree tolerates drought and poor limestone soils and can live for several hundred years.

Significance in the country

Alfarroba is the traditional crop of the dry limestone Barrocal belt in the Algarve. Flour from the pulp goes into the region’s cakes and sweets, and the seeds yield locust bean gum (E410) – a thickener for the food industry and a valuable export.

Where it grows

Mainly in the Algarve, especially in the limestone Barrocal belt between the coast and the mountains, from around Loulé to Tavira; scattered trees also in the southern Alentejo.

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