Discovered Carob

I had a very good 10-hr sleep (the 7x32kg-GetUp
S&S session sure tired me out) and went through my
morning routine feeling great. But still there was
this blue funk when I didn't have a clear plan
what to do on a windy Sunday morning. The wind
died down a little around 9:00am. It was cloudy
and about to rain.

On our way to the coffee shop, I showed Tim where
I found the carob pods. The dark brown bean husks,
lying on the sidewalk under the tree, didn't look
super appetizing. When I brought two home last
night, my wife declared they were 皂角.
"Edible? Are you kidding? That's for making soap!"
was her indisputable observation. From the
pictures, they did look very similar. (Google was
way off by translating 皂角 to Cassia. Search
for 皂角 instead.) The beans were dark and hard
but the pods were soft and chewy. I never tried
皂角 but the carob pods tasted almost as sugary
as roasted sweet potatoes and Tim named this
wonderful plant the chocolate bar tree.

Carob extract was expensive, as Steve Maxwell said
in one Joe Rogan show. Last time I checked, an 8oz
pack costed over $30 on Amazon. I was lucky to pay
attention and must have collected $30+'s worth of
raw material for free today. But my newly acquired
knowledge of carob was from a better deal. Thanks
Mr. Rogan and Mr. Maxwell.