{"id":34,"date":"2017-11-30T10:12:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-30T10:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/inec.biz\/?page_id=34"},"modified":"2018-02-15T10:47:01","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T10:47:01","slug":"raw-materialproduction","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/inec.biz\/?page_id=34","title":{"rendered":"Raw material\/production"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space height=”200px”][vc_text_separator title=”Raw material and Production” color=”custom” accent_color=”rgba(153,139,107,0.54)”][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]The carob tree<\/strong>
\nThe carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua L., is a medium sized leguminous, evergreen tree with a well developed round crown and a short trunk. The tree is native widespread in the Mediterranean countries. Carob trees grow in their habitat usually in association with wild olives or pistachios, but carob plantations are also found. The trees grow best in calcareous soils, preferably near to the sea; they are drought resistant but tolerate only slight frost.<\/p>\n

The quantity of carob bean kernels per pod depends on the variety and amounts to 8-15%.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”374″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]The carob bean and its products<\/strong>
\nThe fruit of the carob tree, the carob pod, is a chocolate brown and slightly bent pod when ripe and ready for harvest (late August to early October). Each pod bears 10 to 15 dark brown, hard seeds or kernels which are rather uniform in weight (ca. 0.2g). Arab jewellers used the kernels as weight unit to weigh precious metals and diamonds (hence the word \u201ccarat\u201d). Carob kernels are the most valuable components of the carob bean because they are the starting material for the manufacture of carob bean gum.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”271″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”64px”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”274″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]The carob kernels are surrounded by a pulp (pericarp) which dries out to a brown mass during ripening. The pods are broken (\u201ckibbling\u201d) to small pieces (\u201ckibbles\u201d) thereby releasing the kernels which are separated. The kernels represent roughly 10% of the weight of the pod, the remaining 90% being the carob pulp.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Product of the Carob Beans are:<\/p>\n