Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Kharroub (Carob Drink)
A dark, molasses-sweet carob-pod infusion served ice-cold, a Palestinian Ramadan refresher poured from ornate brass jugs.
Palestinian · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~102 cal · 0g protein · 26g carbs · 0g fat · 0g fiber · 26g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kharroub is the carob drink of Palestine and the wider Levant, brewed from the dark, leathery pods of the carob tree, which grows all over the region and yields a natural, caramel-like sweetness without any added sugar. The pods are boiled or steeped to draw out their deep brown, molasses-rich liquor.
It is above all a drink of Ramadan, when it is sold on the streets of the old cities by vendors who carry ornate brass dispensers on their backs, pouring it in a long, practiced arc into little cups. Deep brown, richly sweet, and naturally caffeine-free, it is thought to be cooling and good for the body.
For many it is a nostalgic taste, bound up with childhood, with the holy month, and with the atmosphere of the old-city streets at dusk. Sweet, earthy, and traditional, kharroub is a small seasonal pleasure of the Palestinian Ramadan.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 cups dried carob pods, chopped
10 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 a strip of lemon peel
Instructions
1
Rinse and crush the carob pods, then simmer them in the water for about 45 minutes, until the pods are tender and the liquid is deep brown.
2
Lift the pods out, break them up further, return them to the pot with the sugar and lemon peel, and simmer for another 45 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
It is a long brew, not a quick infusion. Twenty minutes gets you brown water; the sweetness and the body only come out over a couple of unhurried simmers. Carob is very sweet by itself, so taste before you decide how much sugar it needs, if any.
3
Strain out the pods, pressing to extract all the sweet liquid, and cool.
4
Chill thoroughly and serve over plenty of ice, with a few raw pine nuts floated on top.
✎ Chef’s note
The carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua, grows wild through the north of Palestine and the Upper Galilee, and the same pods are boiled down into dibs, a dark carob molasses eaten at breakfast with halaweh. The drink belongs to Ramadan above all: through the month it is sold in litre bottles by street vendors and by children on the roadside, and it appears at iftar tables alongside erk sous, the licorice one. It is naturally caffeine-free.
Palestinian Ramadan tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
West Bank. Musakhan means heated, and the name comes from farmers warming yesterday's taboon bread through with the new oil. It belongs particularly to the Tulkarm and Jenin area, it is made at the olive harvest when the oil is fresh and green, and pine nuts or almonds go over the top of it.
🗺️
Palestine. Musakhan means heated, and the dish began as a way of using day-old taboon bread: soaked with new olive oil, piled with onions cooked slowly with sumac, and topped with chicken. It is associated with the Tulkarm and Jenin area and is made at olive-harvest time, when the first pressing of the year is running and the oil is at its sharpest.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Palestine
MusakhanSumac-and-onion roasted chicken over olive-oil-soaked taboon bread, showered with toasted pine nuts, Palestine on a platter.
Labneh with Za'atarThick strained yogurt swirled with olive oil and za'atar, scooped with warm taboon bread.
MaftoulHand-rolled Palestinian couscous simmered with chicken and chickpeas in a warmly spiced broth, a warming village dish.
Browse all Palestine recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Palestine meal
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QatayefDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kharroub (Carob Drink)?
A dark, molasses-sweet carob-pod infusion served ice-cold, a Palestinian Ramadan refresher poured from ornate brass jugs.
Where does Kharroub (Carob Drink) come from?
Kharroub (Carob Drink) is a Palestinian dish from West Bank, Palestine.
Can Kharroub (Carob Drink) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kharroub (Carob Drink) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kharroub (Carob Drink) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kharroub (Carob Drink) take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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