Thanks to fine dining and experimenting with ingredients and flavours, the very ancient berries, capers, are making a comeback. Native to the Mediterranean, capers are the unripened flower buds of Capparis spinosa, a prickly, perennial plant.
They are eaten as a common ingredient in the Mediterranean diet, and are more popular in Cypriot than Greek cuisine. Even though their consumption dates back to ancient times, their popularity in Greek cuisine has peaked in recent years. Commonly, the smaller capers are used to flavour sauces, added to pastas, used to add a salty brine flavour to salads – the leaves are also used to flavour salads but also fish dishes. But it’s the larger caper berries that are having a resurgence in the Hellenic Republic of today. Brined and pickled, they are used as a mezze by themselves or as an accompaniment to a fine dining dish.
The health benefits of capers are extensive. Being flower buds, capers are in fact very low in calories. The spice contains many phytonutrients, anti-oxidants and vitamins essential for optimum health.
Capers are one of the plant sources high in flavonoid compounds rutin (or rutoside) and quercetin. Both these compounds are powerful anti-oxidants. Research studies suggest that quercetin has anti-bacterial, anti-carcinogenic, analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. In Greece, a herbal tea made of caper root and young shoots is used to help the sufferers of arthritis.
Rutin strengthens capillaries and inhibits platelet clump formation in the blood vessels. Both these actions of rutin help in the smooth circulation of blood in very small vessels.
The spicy buds contain healthy levels of vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin K, niacin, and riboflavin. Niacin helps lower LDL cholesterol. Minerals like calcium, iron and copper are present in them. High sodium levels are because of added granular sea salt (sodium chloride). Parts of the plant are used to relieve rheumatic pain in traditional medicines. The spicy caper pickles are traditionally added to recipes as an appetite stimulant. In addition, they help relieve stomach aches.
Yet, the health benefits of capers are just a bonus to us all. When harvested, the caper buds, the shoots, leaves and the fruits of the shrub are bitter and need to be cured and pickled in a salt-vinegar brine.
On Greek islands and all along the Mediterranean, caper bushes grow wild and hang off rocky cliffs over the sea. And on many of the islands, caper buds are dried in the sun. When using dried capers, their taste becomes particularly strong, so it’s best to soak them in warm water for up to five hours and blanch them in boiling water before using them.
The salted and pickled caper bud is often used as a seasoning or garnish. They are the common ingredient in tartare sauce, a sauce that is commonly served with seafood. As a match, capers and seafood are delightful, and if you have fresh fish at your disposal, make a sauce simply by frying up capers in butter for less than five minutes and pour on top of your seafood, however it is prepared.
Caperberries, which look like small, elongated, dark green almonds, are the fruit of the caper bush. Cured in vinegar, they are meatier and have a milder taste than capers. On Chios and other islands, they are stuffed with garlic cloves and served as an appetizer. Pickled caper shoots and leaves are also served as a meze, and are of course added to salads, pasta sauces, grilled fish and all kinds of vegetable dishes.