Homemade Raw Carob Powder

I was discouraged to discover recently that most store bought carob powders are never usually a genuine 'raw' carob powder as the raw carob pods are heated to temperatures around 400 degrees to roast before grinding into a powder. Also due to the fact that my raw food supplier advised me today that they were out of stock of truely raw carob powder until the end of the year,  I decided to try my hand at making my own homemade raw carob powder.

Kalgoorlie is abundant with majestic old carob trees, lining many of the residential streets, most loaded with pods.

With the help of the kids and the use of the car as a standing platform, we spent an afternoon of hours driving through the town, parking under trees, taste testing carob pods, searching for the juiciest. When finally we chose the tastiest tree, draped in dark brown coloured carob pods and a show of young new season green ones, we collected a basket full. 

Freshly picked raw carob pods to be turned into
homemade raw carob powder

Armed with our freshly hand picked treasures, the process began.


I started by giving all the carob pods a good wash over with a brush and another rinse by the kids.

giving the raw carob pods a wash

I then left the carob pods to seep in filtered water for a day to soften so that the removal of the tiny hard seeds would be easier.

I spent an hour at the fireplace during the evening, prying open each carob pod and flicking out a number of seeds within each.

The raw carob pods deseeded

I then broke up the pods a little more, gave them another rinse and set them out on the dehydrator trays to dry out.
I left them overnight dehydrating at 40 degrees.

The raw carob pods dehydrating before turning
them into homemade raw carob powder

Once the pods were dried, it was finally time for the fun part - watching the raw carob pods turn into powder!

I placed a small handful at a time in the blender before turning it up, to its highest speed, and watching the raw carob powder form.

Before

After - fresh raw carob powder

.

Truly raw homemade carob powder

After the dust settled, pure, raw, handpicked, wild harvested, local, carob powder was visible.
The flavour and colour was very unique in comparison to the store bought counterpart. It was lighter in colour which is understandable, as it of course, had not been highly roasted, and the taste was quite different. 

Now that I had on hand the perfect homemade raw carob powder, it was time to put it to the test. I wanted to create a raw carob delight. 

I originally intended on making a carob cheesecake, but like most things I make, the original intention usually transforms into another, so as I began to blend the ingredients, a carob fudge was formed, so that is what it became. 

I started by blending in the food processor 1 cup of soaked cashews, pulp of one young coconut, a handful of dates, dollop of raw honey, and about a cup of my fresh homemade raw carob powder. After processing for a minute, the results were a moist sweet and light fudge.

I pressed this mix into a tray and let set in the fridge before slicing.

Fudge slice using homemade raw carob powder

The kids were eating the cubes quicker than I could slice. When Michael got home from work he spotted the fudge in the fridge and ate it until it was all gone! 
My initial response to the homemade raw carob fudge was of uncertainty, as I was hoping to imitate a chocolate flavour, but as its outcome was not like chocolate at all, I felt it may not be as successful as I had hoped. But after Michael's excited reaction and the kids keenness, I was proven wrong. Michael thought the fudge was amazing and very similar to a long ago favourite caramel fudge sold by Darrel Lea. It certainly didn't taste like chocolate, but had a strong resemblance to caramel, so though it didn't turn out like I was expecting, it sure did turn out well!

Delicate cubes of yummy caramel fudge made using
homemade raw carob powder

More delights from my homemade raw
carob powder