Chris Bussetti, age 9, of Staten Island, New York, for his question:

What is Saint John's bread?

This handsome tree is named for Saint John the Baptist, who lived in the sunny wilderness of the Holy Land. People say that he fed on pods called locusts, which grow on this desert tree. Nowadays, some people call it the carob tree and its bean type seeds come in carob pods. These large thick pods are chocolate colored. What's more, they taste like mild sweetish chocolate. When they are powdered, you can hardly tell the difference.

Carob trees grow wild in many lands around the Mediterranean Sea. They also grow very well in Southern California. They are tall and shady, with neat, shiny, round leaves. Sometimes the big brown pods are fed to cattle. Sometimes they are ground up to make sweet bread and cookies, that come, out with the smell and taste of chocolate. Some people still call the tree Saint John's bread and some still say that its pods are locusts.