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Nutritional Info About Carob Chips

Aarti R
Carob chips are a low-calorie substitute for chocolate chips and are seeds of a Mediterranean shrub. They are of the same color as chocolate chips. Read on to know their nutritional info.
Carob is a flowering shrub that is evergreen and belongs to the pea family. The seeds of this shrub are edible and the plant is native to Africa. Ancient Egyptians used carob as a natural sweetener.
Carob seeds were used to make sugar before sugarcane and sugar beets were used. Today, they are used as a substitute in cakes, candy and cookies.
Carob powder is also used in certain beverages and acts as a substitute for coffee in drinks. Whenever you want to substitute carob powder for cocoa powder, replace it with twice the weight of the cocoa powder.

Carob Chips Nutrition

Calories in carob chips are 934 for every serving size of 1 cup. Here is the exact nutritional information. Percentage daily value is mentioned for a 2000 calorie diet. These values may change as you change the daily calorie intake.
Note: The serving size for the nutrients here is 1 cup.
  • Saturated Fat : 50.2 g (251%)
  • Polyunsaturated Fat : 0.51 g (NA)
  • Monounsaturated Fat : 0.836 g (NA)
  • Sodium : 185 mg (NA)
  • Cholesterol : 5 mg (2%)
  • Potassium : 1095 mg (NA)
  • Dietary Fiber : 6.6 g (26%)
  • Sugar : 90 g (NA)
  • Proteins : 14 g (NA)
  • Calcium : NA (52%)
  • Iron : NA (12%)

Ingredients

  • Whole Grain Malted Barley
  • Corn
  • Palm Kernel Oil
  • Carob Powder
  • Soy Lecithin
Usually, carob chips are found at a food store in the baking section. Various sweeteners and binding agents are used to prepare the chips. Palm kernel oil is used along with these additives.
In addition, there are unsweetened carob chips available in the market. The sweetened version has malted syrup (natural sweetener) instead of sugar. They can be used in almost every recipe that has chocolate chips as an ingredient, and have lower calories. However, you cannot term them as a healthy food that can replace fruits and vegetables.

Benefits

As mentioned, carob chips are a healthy replacement for the chocolate chips. Comparatively, they have more dietary fibers. Also, they are rich in protein and high in fiber. The calcium content is higher than that of the chocolate chips. The absorption of calcium is blocked by oxalic acid present in chocolate and carob chips do not contain oxalic acid.
Chocolate chips contain phenylethylamines, which is many times responsible for triggering migraines. Carob chips do not contain these small nitrogen-containing molecules.
Apart from these nutritional benefits, there are some health benefits too. These chips are used for treating diarrhea in children. Sometimes, they are used to provide relief in traveler's diarrhea and in GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease).
Thus, if you belong to the 'health conscious type', go in for replacing carob chips over chocolate chips in recipes.