Ecosystems

Carob tree

Carob trees (Ceratonia siliqua) also live in the scrub. Carob trees can be used to control erosion, preserve the soil and reclaim lands, while supplying carobs as fodder. Carobs have always been used in many different ways: as animal fodder (especially horses), brewed into alcohol drinks or as thickeners (carob flour) in the food industry. Carobs can also be eaten as picked; sometimes, they have been toasted and used as ersatz coffee. A peculiarity of this plant is that its seeds are extremely hard and, above all, all have the same shape and weight. The people of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean know about this peculiarity of the seeds and so they used them as units of weight for gold and gems; basically they put gold or gems on one scale pan and the seeds of the keration (as the Greeks called them) on the other. This is why gold, diamonds or other precious stones are still weighed in carats and not in grams. Because plants grow slowly, the wood is mainly used as firewood and for crafts. A particular woody product is heather log, used to make pipes.