Carob Pods
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Luke 15:16)—the fruit of the carob tree, widespread in Palestine and eaten by the poor or fed to livestock and swine. The fruit consists of dark, hard pods several inches long, containing eight to ten hard reddish seeds. The tree also grows throughout the Levant and southern Europe. The pods are sometimes called Saint John’s bread because of a tradition that John the Baptist ate them in the wilderness.