Capers are not just naughty frolics or escapades. They are also some of the loveliest and most useful plants one can have in one’s garden.
The garden walls of our place in Longoio host four caper plants.
We didn’t plant these delightful plants; they just happened to be there when we found the house and have remained so through the hottest summers and the coldest winters. Indeed, it’s not that easy to plant capers: like cats they have a mind of their own and choose the places where they wish to flourish.
Capers, the flower buds of Capparis spinosa, have been used in Mediterranean gastronomy since ancient times to flavour a great variety of foods: from meat, to fish, to pasta. I especially like them with a tomato sauce for pasta, in salads and sprinkled on cheese toast. I’m sure that capers can be grown in the UK using a heated propagator but to see these beautiful plants grow on one’s garden wall in Italy is truly a joy to behold.
As with all capers one has to reach a big decision: either pick the bud or let it flower into one of the most delicate blossoms we know.
We have to continue to make this decision during our indolent August days, for capers flower between May and October.
There are two methods to prepare capers for our table: either using salt or using vinegar. My wife Sandra has used both methods.
Preparing capers with salt.
Cut the stem of the capers one by one, wash them gently, drain them, dab them with a cloth and allow to dry completely.
In a jar proceed with a first layer of salt, a layer of capers of about 1 cm, another of salt and proceed in this way until the jar is complete.
Store the jars in a dark, cool place and shake the jars from time to time. The salted capers will be ready after forty days and will keep for almost two years.
To consume salted capers, they must first be de-salted in plenty of cold water, changing it several times, drained well and dabbed with kitchen paper, rinsed with vinegar, squeezed gently, placed in a jar covered with extra virgin olive oil and kept in the fridge. It is better to de-salt small quantities of capers and leave the rest in salt.
Do you know the difference between capers and cucunci? Capers (capperi) are the unopened flowers
while cucunci are the fruits containing the seeds that come from uncollected flowers or capers.
Capers grow throughout Italy but the best ones are reputed to come from the island of Pantelleria.
Preparing capers with vinegar.
Wash the capers, drain them and dry them with a cloth.
Put the capers in a bowl and sprinkle them with coarse salt and bay leaves. Let them macerate for 2 – 3 days, mixing them occasionally with your hands. After this time, put the capers in the sterilized jars.
Boil white vinegar for a few minutes. Pour the hot vinegar over the capers so as to completely cover them, seal and leave to flavour for five days.
Drain the capers from the vinegar. Then put them back in sterilized jars.
Boil the remaining vinegar, let it cool, then add it to the capers, seal and keep in the pantry.
Medicinal uses of capers
Capers contain more quercetin (an anti-inflammatory agent) by weight than any other plant. The root bark is used in herbal medicine. The active ingredients have diuretic and blood vessel protective properties. It can be used in the treatment of gout, haemorrhoids, and varicose veins. An infusion prepared with caper roots and young shoots was used in folk medicine to relieve rheumatism.
PS the Italian expression ‘capperi’, said as an exclamation, means ‘crickey’ or ‘gosh’ or ‘wow’. It’s obviously a polite way of avoiding the expression ‘Cristo!’ E.g. ‘Capperi che pizza!’
PPS The caper plant hibernates in winter. Do not be alarmed if it looks dead in that season. Come spring the cappero will re-flower in all its full glory.