By: Amots Dafni and Saleh Akel Khativ
The smell of carobs is from the "camber scents" family: towards Rosh Hashanah the carob trees begin to bloom, bearing a heavy and brash smell that cannot be mistaken or ignored. Ariel Hirschfeld writes about the carob blossom and its intense smell: "... I knew a great poet who once drew me to Ben Maimon Boulevard in the autumn days with the intention of smelling the carob blossom and he stood there, smiling all over, happy at the smell of the masculine fantasy painted by the river of scent that filled the street.
I have seen quite a few people who, the moment they noticed the smell of carob blooming above them, suddenly opened their eyes in amazement
and smiled a bright smile. A dear woman once told me, to the smell of a large carob tree that bloomed near her house: "I am embarrassed that I am not embarrassed that I know this smell." Is he good in your opinion? - I asked in a slightly invasive tone.
"Look," she said, "not everything about him was good." And she did not add. One artist, Polish by origin, a great istanis and an extreme expert in the field of smells, able to distinguish even between different smells of clean water, who knows how to get up and turn off the kettle the moment the smell of boiling water spreads in the room, once explained, in complete seriousness, to a small group of friends I was sitting with, a smell The carob is from the Camembert family and several other cheeses from the Normandy region, especially around the city of Von l'Ebec.
"A smell that has a hint of decay and of protein on the verge of rotting, but it is mixed with a strong and fresh smell of wet clay soil"... The conversation, which of course took place at the foot of a carob tree, but not when it was blooming, thus reached a distressing moment. Who could argue with such a virtuoso, who knows the fresh smell of wet clay soil? And especially: what remains of the smell of the seed, or the carobs, after so many words."
This unequivocal smell spread and even reached Meir's book "Ginat Bar" (p. 234): "At the time when I lived in Jerusalem, I found myself walking or pedaling up Marcus Street in Telvia. Large carobs grow on both sides of this street, and in the autumn months they give The males, whose blossoms are much more abundant than the females, an unmistakable scent. Not all passers-by understand where all this living beauty comes from, and more than once I have seen an amusing sight there: passers-by and passers-by, their faces upturned and different expressions on them, each according to experience. His life and the inclinations of his heart: who would have believed...Mila in Katmon, but with us in Telvia?!.".
In another place, the same author writes: "...Uncle Menachem did not trust the wind to carry the carob pollen to the carob flowers and pollinate them himself. At the end of the summer he climbed the male trees, shook the fragrant pollen into paper sacks and hurried to scatter it among the female branches. That is why he stuck to it The heavy, distinct and undissipating smell of semen, which embarrassed the neighbors, amused the neighbors and drove his wife crazy." (Khimim Ahadim, p. 64).
The fiancee test:
An ancient Bedouin legend tells: "One day a young Bedouin was walking with his pious fiancee and they both passed under a male carob tree that was in full bloom. The fiancee inhaled the heavy smell to the full of her lungs and a wide smile spread across her face from ear to ear. The young man realized that she knew the smell and stood up to her and killed him on the spot Since then, when they want to check the death of her fiancé before her wedding, they bring her under a flowering cherub tree and check her reaction." This legend appears on several websites in different versions on the net. The story behind it is much less "ancient". One day I guided (A.D.) a botanical tour of my teachers during the carob blossom season on a hot, steamy and clearly unfriendly day.
The participants who were tired and bored harassed me with idle comments and then on the spot I invented this fable according to the rule coined by Hanania Reichman: "The curious listener spurs the liar". Someone told the legend further and that's how the "legend" found its way into the writings. If I were to write the legend today, I would be more moderate and end the legend by returning her to her parents' home and breaking off the engagement bond with her, and then every reader/hearer could imagine how the story ended... Maybe thanks to this legend, I will apply for the title "Bedouin or Bedouin Elder".
And here is a true story: "A man who lived in a far away place had four sons and one daughter. One day the sons went hunting and left the daughter to take care of the goats and the tent. The girl slept under a carob tree that was in full bloom and thought it was perfume. She took one branch to the tent and put it in the corner. The men came back after a few days and smelled a strange smell of a man, they killed her immediately and buried her in secret and when they went to check her corner they found the carob branch and regretted their actions The law is that speed is from the devil" (by Mahfuz and Ahabi Al Khatib, Barta'a, 23.10.13).
Among the villagers in the Galilee, we heard the saying: Vera riha zohr carob is a story that only young people can understand (Vera riha zahr le kharub khakaya ma bifamaha ila elshabab) which means that behind the smell of carob blossoms there is a message that is not
Only (someone) from among the young will understand it, and they surely know what it is about.
The carob is a love potion
In Persian folk medicine, the carob fruit is used as a love potion, to increase the amount of sperm and to treat male infertility. A prescription from Turkey for the same problems suggests taking two-three pieces of carob fruit every morning for two to three weeks. In the West Bank, women usually eat carob powder to treat fertility problems. According to a list called "I want carob" (which appears on the website of the Neot Kedumim Reserve) it is said that: "Among Moroccan Jews it is customary to boil the carob seeds for a whole night and then a thick and sweet layer of gelatin is obtained in the upper part of the pot. The gelatin is served to spouses Right after the wedding so that they have the strength for a fertile honeymoon and the gelatin should also help the woman's fertility."
In light of the clear smell of the carob blossom it is hard not to link the use of carob to human fertility. In the 16th and 17th centuries, a theory of "healing like for like" (Doctrine of Signatures) developed in Europe. the essence of
This "Torah" is based on the idea that plants that are similar in color, smell, shape or name to certain organs, symptoms, or diseases have the power to cure those diseases.
Although the 'theory' was formulated only a few hundred years ago, the roots of the idea appeared already thousands of years ago in ancient cultures in different places on the planet. For example: drops squeezed from the fruits of the donkey's spit, the yellow of the flowers, were used to cure jaundice; Shulamit hairs have a beautiful power for hair growth and care; The scorpion's sting, whose curved flower resembles a scorpion's sting, is suitable for healing the stings of this vermin, and the roots of the doda, which resemble a human figure, are a proven virtue for reproduction and fertility.
To most of the surprise, new studies showed that when mice were fed an extract made from carob fruits for 35 days, a significant improvement was found in the quality of the sperm and the amount of testosterone in it. When an extract prepared from carob fruits was added in the laboratory to frozen human sperm, a significant improvement in its quality was found. In mice treated to reduce sperm fertility, an increase in the amount of testosterone was found after feeding them with carob fruit extract. Regarding the use for the men, it is about the fruits and not the fragrant flowers, but it is easy to imagine how the people came up with the idea of using carob to achieve this unique goal of fertility for both the man and the woman.
Even more surprising is how this idea came to Judith Ronen's book 'Whiskey of carobs': "Fable also began to sell carob flour, which the shepherd grinds from the fruits that he gathered every evening, after he had put his cows to sleep for the night. A rumor has spread recently in our area, that the flour It excels in its medicinal properties and is especially good for strengthening the strength of the man. 'Perhaps because of the worms that were ground in it,' ... but this did not harm the reputation of the new product from the village. The carob flour, which was quickly stolen without having to invest any effort in promoting it His sales, he arrived at the village houses at the perfect time, at a time when it became clear beyond any doubt that the red guavas that inspired blue dreams at the time, were disappointing" (p. 128).
The carob smell is like the smell of a corpse
In Wikipedia, cited by many, the origin of the similarity between the smell of carob flowers and the smell of human sperm was explained as follows: "The male carob flower emits a smell reminiscent of human semen, because both contain the same polyamine known as cadaverine. The origin of the name cadaverine is the characteristic smell of corpses ) in English means a corpse, obtained from the breakdown of the amino acids in the dead cells.
In carob flowers, cadaverine is formed from the breakdown of the amino acid lysine. This feature is an effective adaptation that attracts pollinators, who are attracted to the smell of corpses..." (Wikipedia entry: Carob, in the meantime the value has changed). Unfortunately, we have not been able to find confirmation, in the scientific literature, for the claim about the presence of cadaverine in carob flowers. But there is evidence that cadaverine is used As an intermediate compound in the production of fragrances in flowers that mimic faecal or carrion odors.
The truth behind the smell of carob flowers is much less picturesque. The substance called cadaverine is indeed found in a small amount in carob fruits, but has never been found in its flowers. An examination of the carob flowers revealed that no less than 30 compounds were found in them and none of them are from the group of substances that includes cadaverine. It was also found that there is no difference in the chemical composition of scents between the male flowers and that of the female flowers. The greater intensity of the smell in the male trees is due to the simple reason that it bears many more flowers than the female tree.
During the day, a lot of activity was found (mainly on the male trees compared to the female trees) of wasps, honey bees (the main pollinators) and wild bees. At night, no less than 30 species of moths were observed on the female trees, whose part in the pollination is not clear. Five species of Einfaz (a green insect with orange eyes, hence its name, also known as "Green Erinmel") were observed, on the female trees, as active pollinators and as carriers of a lot of carob pollen - evidence that the insects had previously visited the male trees. The assumption is that these insects, which are active at night, do not distinguish in the dark between the female trees and the male trees, which have the same smell, and thus pollination is possible.
Dense honey smell of estrus
The heavy smell of carob is not absent in Hebrew poetry. "We are vessels / and whatever remains / of the seed / will smell like carob". (Yoram Ben-Meir, Toldot. A Dream of Shacharit p. 156). The heavy smell of carob that returns every fall (a rare season for the trees of the country to bloom) does not relent in its reminder of the human reproductive cycle. We are temporary and need to reproduce every generation, while the carob is eternal and renews our seeds and takes them with us.
Haim Gori leaves the deciphering of the carob smell riddle to the reader himself. : "...Carobs in their stunned bloom / And faint light. / Four walls beyond the world. / A mound of a breast that is hot / Rises and breathes, / Nipples are lost in the heat / Beyond and far away. " (Chaim Gori, On the Way. The Songs, p. 117 The exciting and highly associated carob smell is what explains to us what happens between the four walls when the light is weak and the chest rises and breathes, when the carob smell is heavy and unequivocal.
Zvi Atzmon, the trustee of the natural sciences, is accurate in describing the smell of the carob and its pollinators. The very name of the song "Carob male - an exercise in definition" is ironic in that we give you a male carob flower for definition and see what disappears from your nose and botanical eyes: "Summer fades with its smell / tickles nauseously / carob from sex you don't murmur / a lily or a rose in the hair / moist girls etc. / only A smell as dense as the honey of heat / and the flocks of flies bite the pollen load." (Interior design, p. 42).
Epilogue
When dealing with the scents of the flowers, we often talk about the sweet scents that are meant in nature to attract the pollinators to the flowers for pollination services. Humans enjoy this magic for the pleasure and motivation of their loved ones. How many are the love songs that embrace the sweetness of the scents of flowers and the wonders of love. We rarely come across flowers with an unpleasant smell.
There are very few plants whose heavy stomachs announce their existence with such defiance that we cannot ignore them. It seems that there is no other plant in Israel, such as carob, the smell of its flowers evokes such vigorous reactions in humans, not to mention the messages and associations that accompany them. Therefore, it is not surprising how much the smell of the carob blossom penetrated into folklore, folk medicine, literature and poetry. Science, as usual, lazily follows the trail of usages, stories and emotions, sometimes it disproves and sometimes it surprises us with its conclusions that confirm how many folk beliefs are based on a real basis.