Grainy carob powder

[Kris]

I had been using regular old health food store carob powder in my recipes, but finally got to buy some raw stuff from Alissa. However, when I tried her carob powder in my favorite "chocolate" mousse recipe, it came out very gritty and grainy. The only thing I changed was the carob powder, so I'm pretty sure that's it.

Does anyone know if there is a reason that her powder isn't very finely ground? Or if there is a way to avoid the grittiness in smooth recipes??

[Sheryl]

Hi there!

Carob is actually quite a chewy dense bean... my understanding is that the processing involved to make it into a micro powder like non raw carob simply can not be recreated raw.

We sometimes take the whole bean, remove the seeds and grind... now that's real carob powder! The taste is just divine!

Cheers,
Sheryl

[SamuelWilson]

Alissa uses the real deal raw carob. It is sun-dried and ground only, it will not be super fine like the non raw carob powder. It will have more texture than what you used before. I actually buy carob beans and grind them myself.

I can help you resolve the grainy issue with your raw "chocolate" mousse if you will post the recipe here for me. In summary you will blend the carob with a carrier of some kind (nut milk, water, etc..) and then you will strain through cheese cloth. This will remove all the grit and only leave the smooth silky carob behind. At that point is when you add the carob to your recipe.

[Rawkinlocs]

When I went to training at Alissa's, one of the teachers told us her "secret" to making sure her carob-containing dishes were always smooth was to slowly add just enough warm water to get out all the carob lumps in a separate bowl and whip it using a whisk until it makes a smooth chocolately syrup and THEN add that to the recipe.

[Kris]

Hi all,

Thanks for the suggestions! The mousse is Renee Underkoffler's recipe, which can be found here:
http://www.voiceyourself.com/09_dakinekitchen/09_easy.php#12

It's also in her book, but my copy is on loan to a friend so I can't tell you which page it's on. I like the ideas about adding liquid or straining out the actual powder and just getting the flavor, but the recipe itself doesn't call for any liquid to be added. I'm not sure how I would keep it thick and mousse-like in this case. These are some great general suggestions for carob use, though. I guess I had no idea what REAL carob was like -- funny how that works!!