Anyone who has visited Portugal will know that the country is home to a huge variety of delicious local food. Everything from fresh seafood; juicy oranges, and delicious figs are available. One product you may be a little less familiar with is alfarroba, otherwise known as carob. Portugal is actually one of the top producers of carob worldwide, thanks to the dry and hot Algarvian climate.
Requiring very little water to survive, the region is the ideal place for the alfarrobeira (carob tree) to grow. The tree can grow to 50ft tall and 50ft wide, but the roots can delve up to 20 meters deep, ensuring it can survive in the driest of places. You will no doubt have seen them on walks in the Algarve as they're easy to spot, with their tough evergreen leaves and long black pods.
Carob once had little value and was mainly used to feed horses, but eventually people realised that with its natural sweetness, and healthier properties it could be used in many things such as carob bread, biscuits, energy bars and even beer!
It has a great reputation as a healthy product, and that has seen it become a staple in Portugal. As well as having many nutritional and health benefits (helping everything from digestion to coughs and flu), it is also used in countless recipes as a replacement for chocolate. As it's also high in calcium, and a great source of vitamins and fibre,what more of an excuse do you need to order a slice of carob cake, otherwise known as tarte de alfarroba!
Comments