Carob is a healthy alternative to chocolate; it’s lower in fat and calories and caffeine-free; it’s very nutritious, in some ways more than cacao. You can use carob powder 1:1 in place of cocoa powder in recipes. It has a different taste, chocolate-y but also sweeter (so you can cut down the amount of sugar). Carob comes from the bean of the Locust tree, commonly called Honey Locust (though, we have a honey locust in my Dad's front yard, been there forever, and occasionally it would have small fruit; never thought that it could be edible- likely not). I came across these bars in a health food store. Goldie’s has been making carob bars for 25 years. Their bars contain no preservatives, refined sugars or hydrogenated oils. This one is banana flavoured. The ingredient listing looks to me to be more reminiscent of a milk chocolate bar, barley malt (essentially sugar), fractionated palm kernel oil, carob powder, banana extract and milk.
How does it taste? I like the taste of carob, the smell of it, though it is by far a different experience to cacao, and is not a replacement. Though, you can still enjoy it on its own merits, and I did enjoy this bar, despite finding it a little chalky in texture, and also a little sweet (carob is naturally sweet, and you actually need less sugar in recipes than using cocoa). The banana is there, but not predominant (wonder what it would taste like with chewy banana pieces!). The bar cost about $4, and I don't have a ready source for it, but I would buy this bar again.
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