Carob Bean

#### Carob Bean. The carob bean or "**Locust**** ****Bean**" is also called "**St.**** ****John's**** ****Bread**" since it was believed that St. John, as referred to in the New Testament, took nourishment from locust and from the syrup of these fruits during his stay in the desert. But since the tree, **Ceratonia Siliqua**, from which the fruits are derived is not a desert tree, it is not conceivable that St. John really had these pods. The honeylike juice which can be expressed from the fruits is nowadays fermented locally and it produces an alcoholic beverage. The flowers of the carob bean tree can be extracted to yield a concrète of a very interesting mimosa-cassie type of odor. The perfume type "locust flower" was originally intended to call this fragrance in mind. It is very likely, however, that the flowers from the carob bean tree are used accidentally or intentionally with cassie or mimosa flowers in the extraction of concrète. The trees grow in the same areas of the Mediterranean countries. **Ceratonia Siliqua **is a small tree which probably originates in the Middle East. It grows abundantly in Cyprus Island in the eastern Mediterranean. The bulk of St. John's bread is, however, produced in Spain and Italy. Greece, Turkey and Lebanon produce smaller quantities. A syrup of about 50% sugar content is found in the tissue around the seeds of the fruit. The fruit also contains some butyric acid, etc. which gives the syrup a cheese-like, almost rancid odor. Some people dislike St. John's bread just for this particular reason. The five to eight inches long pods (fruits) are used in flavor work in the form of an extract. The menstruum for the extraction is very weak alcohol or water. Strong alcohol would not extract the sugar which seems to be accompanied by a certain amount of the peculiar aroma. This aqueous extract of St. John's bread is used in tobacco flavors, in imitation rum flavors and in many types of caramel or nut flavors. A tincture made with strong alcohol is prepared specially for use in perfumes. It is pale colored and has a faint odor of the bean. This tincture finds occasionally use in the creation of certain floral notes, where it seems to introduce naturalness and roundness in spite of the unquestionable cheese-note. The cultivation of the **Carob Bean **tree has found renewed interest since the dried and powdered endosperm from the seeds produce a most useful gum, known as "**Locust Bean**** ****Gum**". Under the brand name of **"Rexer" **(Spanish product) and other brand names, this endosperm powder has become a serious competitor to tragacanth and other gums. The locust bean gum is in several respects superior to tragacanth. The waste fruits, known as "kibbles", from the production of the endosperm-flour are used as cattle feed. Locust bean gum is used extensively in cosmetic preparations, but its greatest outlet is in the textile industry as a thickening agent in the printing of fabrics (also for "apprêtage", etc.).