ATTENTION ALL FOODIES

Listen up. The caper is something edible you may use but never consider its origins or even what it is. It is the bud of the caper plant. The picture above is actually the seed pod, or caper berry, and this particular one is about the size of a jumbo olive. The pod has broken open and exposed respectable sized black seeds. They are cushioned in a soft lining which is sticky and sweet and is much loved by ants. It seems to be a drug to them because they stagger away and often take a seed with them and this is how new caper plants get their start in life. The trouble with letting ants do it is that they often leave the seeds low down on stone walls. This does not give the plants much space to hang themselves.

It is the buds you buy in little jars. They are fairly expensive because they are picked by hand. After that they are dried, packed in vinegar, brine, wine or salt. It is said that the best come from France, mais oui! They are called nonpareil. The berries are cured in the same way but have a gritty texture.

I first encountered capers in tartar sauce and didn't care for them at all. Faugh, sour! Now I use them all of the time but almost always the salt-packed ones. They have a nuttier flavour but have to be washed well or the saltiness will take your head off.

The plants like a semiarid soil, are perennial, and survive on almost nothing. This particular plant is growing on a stone wall backed with concrete.

This is a caper flower -- they are very beautiful -- and a single bud. Caper flower and edible bud.