Here’s What Capers Are Really Made From

We’ve written before at HuffPost UK about the fact that some paprika is made from a type of bell pepper called Capsicum annuum (more traditional kinds, however, usually contain Aleppo or various Hungarian varieties, among others).

That made me wonder about the rest of the spices, condiments, and pickles in my cupboard.

This includes the small, briny flavour bombs, capers – which, as it turns out, are actually baby flowers.

They’re made from the flower buds of the Mediterranean Capparis bush (yes, really).

The small, unbloomed flowers are picked by hand, which is why they can run a little dear. Then, they’re dried, salted and/or pickled.

These closed buds offer a nook-and-cranny-rich surface for salt to seep into, making the end product powerfully saline.

But that’s not the only transformation that takes place: when capers are brined, salted, or pickled, they release mustard oil (glucocapparin), leading to their “intense” flavour.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison added that “This enzymatic reaction leads to the formation of rutin, often seen as crystallised white spots on the surfaces of individual caper buds”.

Smaller capers are generally considered of higher quality. They can be more tender and less acidic than their bigger counterparts – some reccomend picking salt-packed, rather than pickled, capers if you can, as the salty flavour can be more concentrated.

French “nonpareille” types are some of the tiniest (about the size of a peppercorn), and are a bit of a cult foodie favourite.

Capers are graded by size. The options, from largest to smallest, include:

• Grusas,
• Fine,
• Capotes,
• Capucines,
• Surfines,
• Nonpareille.

These are the fruit of the same bush. They’re seed-filled berries that can also be pickled or salted.

They have a milder flavour than capers and are a lot bigger than the buds.

Caper leaves can also be pickled and eaten, and are sometimes used as a vegetarian alternative to rennet in cheese-making.