A caper bush branch with a white flower and purple stamens, a dish of tiny salt-cured capers, a jar of brined capers, a jar of caperberries on their stems and a lemon half on a sun-bleached stone wall

Capers and Caperberries: Complete Guide

Capparis spinosa is a spiny, drought-hardy shrub native to the Mediterranean that grows in the cracks of walls and rock, with a large white flower and numerous stamens. The caper is that flower before it opens: a tight green bud, picked by hand before it can bloom. Cured in salt or pickled, it goes into salads and sauces as a condiment and a seasoning.

The plant and the pick

The bush is perennial. On Salina the harvest runs from May to August, and on Pantelleria from May to October. Pickers work through the plants by hand, usually every eight to ten days depending on the weather, taking the buds that are ready and leaving the rest for the next pass. Like the harvest in the cornichon picking guide, it is repeated picking by hand.

The University of California's small-farms program reports that a two-year-old plant already bears buds, a three-year-old gives just over two pounds a year, and one older than four can produce more than twenty pounds a year.

Why the smallest cost the most

The University of California program notes that the buds are sorted into five grades, and that the smaller the bud, the higher the price. A 2022 review of the species in Frontiers in Pharmacology gives the reason: the smallest buds are the most expensive because their flavor is the most concentrated.

The two cures

Brined capers are the pickled form, used in salads and sauces.

Salt-cured capers take weeks. On Pantelleria, freshly picked buds are covered in coarse sea salt in a vat and stirred every day for ten days. The water they give off is then drained, and a second salting follows, with daily mixing and draining for another ten days. On Salina, the buds are spread to dry on jute cloths in a cool place, sorted by size, and layered with coarse salt in wooden vats, and they are ready after about a month. Before use, salt-cured capers need washing under running water to remove the excess salt.

Pantelleria and Salina

Pantelleria is a volcanic island in the Sicilian Channel, about 70 km from North Africa and 85 km from the Sicilian coast, according to Italy's Civil Protection Department. Its capers grow in extremely dry volcanic soil and are cured in coarse sea salt. The Cappero di Pantelleria has held a protected geographical indication (IGP) since 1996, and its specification describes a strong, characteristic aroma and an aromatic, typically salty flavor.

Salina, in the province of Messina, grows the other caper in this guide. Its capers are a Slow Food presidium, and Slow Food singles out their compactness, fragrance and uniformity.

Two island capers side by side

Cappero di Pantelleria IGP Cappero di Salina (Slow Food presidium)
Harvest window 1 May to 31 October May to August
Picking By hand, in successive passes every 8 to 10 days, depending on the weather By hand, usually every 8 to 10 days
Ground Volcanic soil, extremely dry from low rainfall Cracks in walls and rock, preferably south-facing
Cure Coarse sea salt in a vat, stirred daily; drained, then salted a second time with daily mixing and draining Dried on jute cloths, sorted by size, layered with coarse salt in wooden vats
Salting schedule Two salting rounds of 10 days each (20 days in all) About one month to readiness
Keeping Can keep for years under sea salt; rinse under running water before use Keeps up to two to three years under salt
Protection IGP, registered 1996 Slow Food presidium

The two islands share a method, hand-picking and coarse salt, and differ in calendar. Pantelleria's season runs about two months longer, and its salting is set out as two ten-day rounds, where Salina's capers are ready after about a month in salt.

The caperberry

A bud left on the plant opens into a flower and sets a fruit, and that fruit is also brined, sold as the caperberry. The University of California program describes it as green and elongated, three to five centimeters long, and holding 200 to 300 seeds.

Divina's caperberries (shop Divina Caperberries) come packed in a brine of water, sea salt and citric acid, 32 ounces to the container. They belong on a cheese board or an antipasto plate beside olives and cured meat (the olives complete guide covers the rest of the plate), with smoked salmon on a bagel, or chopped into an egg salad.

How to cook with capers

Puttanesca. Capers, olives, garlic, chile and tomato, with anchovies optional, make puttanesca, the southern Italian pasta sauce. Soak salt-packed capers or rinse brined ones, and give them only the last couple of minutes in the pan.

Piccata. Chicken or veal in a pan sauce of butter, lemon and whole small capers, the caper's sharpness cutting the butter.

Salsa verde and tapenade. Capers go into both, chopped with parsley, anchovy, garlic and oil for the first and pounded with black olives for the second.

Fried capers. Drain, pat dry and fry in hot olive oil until they open like tiny flowers and crisp. Scatter them over fish, pasta, roasted cauliflower or toast from the sardine toast five ways guide.

With fish. Smoked salmon and capers is a classic pairing. So is a brown-butter and caper sauce over a white fish fillet, or a scattering over tuna in oil.

In a vinaigrette. Chopped capers and a little of their brine in a mustardy dressing for potatoes, green beans or a bitter leaf salad.

Keeping

Salt-cured capers can keep for years under their salt; Slow Food puts Salina's at up to two to three. The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com.

Keep a spoonful back from every jar for the frying pan.

Sources & Further Reading

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