Carob absolute

Cocoa, dried fruit, molasses, slightly sour with a faint cheesy note. Sweet and warm, near chocolate but less bitter with a fermented-fruit edge.

Carob absolute has no dedicated standard in the IFRA 51 index. Carob pods are a food; carob flour and locust bean gum (E410) are widely used in foods.

The absolute is dark. Store dark, sealed and cool.

Ceratonia siliqua is an evergreen Mediterranean tree. Its fruit is a long dark brown pod with sweet pulp, ripening in late summer. Spain, Italy, Portugal, Morocco and Greece are the main producers.

Carob seeds are fairly uniform in weight. The word carat, the gemstone unit, is thought to derive from the Greek name of the carob seed (keration). Seeds are milled into gum; pulp is roasted into a cocoa substitute.

An absolute is made in two steps. The raw material is extracted with a non-polar solvent such as hexane to give a waxy concrete. The concrete is then washed with ethanol, chilled to precipitate waxes, filtered and freed of alcohol. What remains is the absolute.

Carob odour includes short branched fatty acids such as isobutyric and butyric acid, giving a sour, lightly cheesy note, along with roast and caramelised sugar compounds. Roasting brings the pulp closer to cocoa.

In perfumery carob absolute serves gourmand, tobacco and amber accords. It can partly replace cocoa where a less bitter sweetness is wanted. It pairs with vanilla, tonka, patchouli and dried fruit.

Carob absolute is a minor material made in small volumes. The chemistry of commercial absolutes is little published.

Carob absolute is usually a dark brown paste. On a blotter the initial sour note soon gives way to cocoa and molasses. It suits tobacco accords and less sugary gourmands.