I mentioned that there were some Spanish businesses that made carob syrup and it seemed to me as if they felt it was "that's only down south".
I looked around, and eventually bought a bag of carob powder just to thank them for their time.
The difficult thing about traveling solo, especially as a disabled person, is that as much as I want and even need some things I can get in the EU, I cannot easily haul them back by myself.
#Carob #Algarrobo #Espana #Bilbao
I wrote Es Garrover de Mallorca a couple times to find out if they're distributed somewhere near me I can walk in and buy. They haven't replied. https://esgarroverdemallorca.com/
So I figured I'd look into health food stores in Bilbao as the most likely places to carry carob products. I wasn't sure which one to try. Luckily, I didn't have to choose since I ran into one on the way home.
They'd never heard of carob syrup, but they had two different brands of carob powder.
I hope more funding gets put into studying carob. It's as if familiarity breeds contempt. This species is so old in Europe that Linnaeus himself gave it the name Ceratonia siliqua. Yet it's not studied anywhere near as deeply as other economic species.
Carob is *tough*, but how is it responding to climate change? It's probably more resilient to it than chocolate or coffee are, but does the heat change the taste or content of the pods & seeds? Not enough study is being done.
The trunk is hollow, as are several large branches. Look how something girdled this branch (girdle = chewed, cut, or tore off a semi-circle or entire circle of bark & phloem, which cuts off nutrition flow in the plant), yet the remaining bark seemed to grow right back over it.
Carob is tough, man. Carob wants to live.
Here you can see the young pods developing.
Carob flowers at about the same time the pods are ripe. Pods are on the tree ripening about one year, more or less.
The pods this tree gives, from what I could see on the ground, are not likely standout for eating traits, but the fact that this tree has survived this rainy environment makes it worth propagating for that trait. #Bilbao #Spain #Espana #Carob #Algarrobo
Made time today to walk up & down hills & stairs to get to this old carob tree growing in a roundabout near the Basilica Begoña. This has to be at least a couple hundred years old.
It's very rainy in Bilbao so it is not the ideal environment for Ceratonia siliqua, yet this one survives, albeit hollow and with many fungi on it. And it's either female or hermaphrodite because it is bearing young pods. #Bilbao #Spain #Espana #Carob #Algarrobo
This reminds me that it is potentially Easter bilby season.
https://mastodon.social/@ScienceScholar/116346213985904076
I'm not sure if Carobana still makes Easter bilbys because they seem to be revamping their website, but you could always try to contact them to find out. https://carobana.com.au/shop/ #Carob #Australia #Easter
CHIVA VUELVE A SER RECONOCIDA POR ATESORAR EL MEJOR ALGARROBO DE ESPAÑA
https://www.chiva.es/2025-04-04/chiva-vuelve-ser-reconocida-atesorar-mejor-algarrobo-espana #Carob #Algarrobo #Espana
Yaad van-Leeven
Megan Lynch (she/her)