The hot and dry weather increases the interest in growing carob

A severe drought combined with high temperatures has prompted farmers in Sicily to look for alternative crops. A plant catches their eye because it adapts well, is hardy and remains productive even when grown dry. This is the carob, reports the Italian site Agronotizie. Over 100 days of vintage in Sicily this year Carob (Ceratonia siliqua) is an evergreen fruit tree belonging to the Legume family. The fruit, called carob, is a pod with a sugar pulp, which in the past was given to children as a substitute for cocoa, and for this reason was called "chocolate for the poor". Today, however, the seeds are used for human food in the form of an additive to many industrial products, and the pulp is given as animal feed. According to a Sicilian farmer, carob is worth reassessing. This plant is part of the natural wealth of southern Italy and it makes sense, especially now, to grow it. One of its advantages is that it can survive long periods of reduced water availability. It needs moisture ...