Witnessed by: Western · Unani
Carob (Ceratonia siliqua), of the Fabaceae (Caesalpinioideae) family. Evergreen tree bearing long, leathery, dark-brown pods; native range: the Mediterranean basin and Near East; dry rocky hillsides. Globally recognized as kharnub (خروب) in Arabic, and locust bean, St John's bread, carob pod in English. The part used is the ripe pod (pulp); the seed. Flat brown pods with a sweet, mealy, chocolate-like pulp enclosing hard glossy seeds; the unripe pod harshly astringent.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
CAROB
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- Carob
- Scientific name
- Ceratonia siliqua L.
- Family
- Fabaceae (Caesalpinioideae)
Form
- Part used
- the ripe pod (pulp); the seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- sweet · astringent
- Unani
- sweet · astringent
Temperature
- Western
- cool
- Unani
- cold & dry (2nd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- stomach · bowels · lungs
- Unani
- stomach · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- demulcent, nutritive, mild astringent, antidiarrhoeal
- Unani
- qabiz (astringent), mughalliz (thickening), mughazzi (nutritive), munaffith (in the sweet pod, loosening the chest)
Cautions
- Contraindications
- chronic constipation, where the astringent pulp aggravates; obstruction of the bowel
- Toxicity
- essentially a food; harmless in ordinary use
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