In the food industry, carob powder is used as a cocoa substitute. It consists primarily of sugars (sucrose, glucose, fructose) in addition to tannins, fibers, etc. D-(+)-Pinitol (3-0-methyl-D-c/zzro-inositol), myoinositol, and D-(+)-c/zt'ro-inositol were isolated from a fermented water extract of carob powder. The concentration of pinitol ranged from 5 to 7.5% of the dry weight of the powder as determined by GC. myo-inositol and c/zzro-inositol were minor components with concentrations of 0.5 to 1% and 0.1%, respectively. As pinitol is not present in cocoa powder, it can be used as a natural marker of carob adulteration of cocoa powder. Further investigations, including GC-MS, revealed traces of ononitol (4-O-methyl-myo-inositol), sequoyitol (5-O-methyl-myo-inositol), and bomesitol (1-O-methyl-myo-inositol) to be present in a fermented water extract of carob powder in addition to sorbitol.

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