HERB - Carob, from the Cook's List

[mermayde@juno.com]

A little tidbit from the Cook's List I thought would be interesting here.
 These traits, as far as I remember, are pretty correct for Carob.  
Christianna

>>What would be the closest thing to chocolate in period-cocoa, like in
drinks?
carob?<<

Platina says of carob: Book III, 6. On Carob Beans

Carobs, which have a hard shell, are deservedly numbered among the nuts, 
I think that they acquired this name because the carob appears very
similar to the bean and lupine, even if larger.  We commonly call them
*caroba*. If they are fresh, they harm the stomach and relax the bowels. 
When they are dried, they have the opposite effect.  Food containing them
moves the urine and is no mean guard against stomach ache if they are
cooked down to one-half in a pint of water and their juice is taken
continually for five days.  Galen, however, has a very bad opinion of
carobs because they are hard to digest, constrict the stomach, and
increase harmful humors.  Valerius Flaccus of Viterbo, a famous doctor of
our day, asserts that carobs eaten in the third ciurse prevent vapors
from previously eaten food from reaching the head.


This is from the new Milham translation.  If Galen knew of carob beans,
they are quite old, at least in the Mediterranean region, as he was the
classic Greek physician that began a lot of the food humour theory, based
on a theory of Hippocrates'.
Regards,

Allison
allilyn at juno.com, Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands, Pittsburgh, PA
Kingdom of Aethelmearc

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