Carob (ceratonia siliqua): Super food and medicine. Literature update

Abstract

Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is one of the important nutritional and medicinal trees of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin, and in recent decades, it has been grown and cultivated in many other regions in the world. Realization and awareness to its unique nutritional and medicinal properties and biological activities are rising rapidly. A great effort of research has been invested and published since our comprehensive review article was published here, in this journal, in 2017. Most recent publications focus on nutrition and efforts to utilize Carob products for numerous food purposes, but medicinal activities of this tree are still drawing major attention, due to their high potential. In this review article, we are presenting a literature update of published research since late 2017. The main objective of this review is to highlight the nutritional applications of Carob products, which many industrial companies in the world, are trying now to convert to commercial food products.