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Carob
A Healthy Chocolate Substitute for Dogs
Need a chocolate substitute for your dog?
Dogs and chocolate
simply don't mix. Try
carob powder
. Naturally sweet, it has a chocolate like flavor that dogs love! Carob powder is absolutely safe for your homemade dog treat recipes.
What is Carob?
Known by many names—locust beans, kibbled beans, carob pods, carob meal, locust meal, ribbled locust beans, St John's Bread—it is grown on the tree shown here.
Photo by James Emery, Douglasville, US (flckr.com)
To process it, carob powder is ground from the pods of the evergreen carob tree, and it grows in Mediterranean areas. Carob has a natural sweetness and contains very little fat, no caffeine and it encourages the absorption of calcium. The beans are selected and then roasted to the darkness desired. A natural product, it does not contain sweeteners or other additives. Carob powder or caromic is used as a cocoa or sugar replacement. It is a very cheap chocolate substitute. Even though carob looks like, smells like, and has a taste that is similar to chocolate, it does not contain theobromine, the part of chocolate that is
toxic to dogs.
One of my favorite ways to use carob powder in dog treats is to make this dog cake,
Rose Dog Cake.
I use the rose cake pan shown in the photos, or sometimes, I use a mini muffin pan--24 little muffins to the pan. The little carob dog cakes are a perfect size for a treat for my miniature schnauzer, Skipper.
How is Carob Used?
Farmers, particularly in Europe, use it as an additive to livestock feed. Caomic contains sugars and tannins that give it a natural ability to prevent scouring (diarrhea) in young animals, a common problem on farms.
Carob powder
has also proven to be effective at inactivating e-coli bacteria and promoting healthy intestinal bacteria. It is a natural solution to preventing stress related diarrhea in animals.Giving your dog carob as a chocolate substitute is almost as good as letting him have the chocolate that he craves! From our perspective, it's even better!
Where did Caromic Come From?
Locust trees or carob trees have been grown in Mediterranean areas for thousands of years. Evergreens, they bear carob pods (or what look like long beans). The pods are harvested every year in September and October. Still another name for carob is St Johns Bread. It is believed that John the Baptist survived in the desert by eating only carob pods. Talk about a healthy ingredient to use in your home made dog treats recipes! Use
carob powder
for a change in your home made dog treats. Dogs (and people) love carob! And best of all, this wonderful chocolate substitute is as good for you as it tastes!
Recipes for Carob Dog Treats
Natural dog treat recipes that use carob:
If you would like to read about other
healthy dog treat ingredients
, and you can find more at
dog nutrition.
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