Caper seed

LATIN NAME: Capparis spinosa

COMMON NAME: Caper

The caper is the plant that grows in the cracks of old walls and gives us one of the great pickles. The low, spreading, thorny shrub carries the small, round, glossy, grey-green leaves, and the fine, white, pink-tinged flowers with the long, airy stamens open through the whole warm season, to be followed by the small, elongated, green fruits. The unopened flower buds are the capers of the kitchen, pickled and prized for their sharp, salty flavour, and the little fruits are the caperberries. It is a fine, easy, tough plant of the sunny, dry, rocky ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The caper has carved a quiet but solid place in the plant science, and the shrub has been studied for the fine, white flowers and the pickled flower buds that made it famous. The sharp, pungent character of the buds, which have a long record of use in the kitchens of the Mediterranean, has been studied at length, and the plant keeps showing up in the work on the culinary plants and the drought-tolerant shrubs of the dry regions. The small, round, glossy leaves and the tough, spreading habit have also made it a fine garden plant, and the airy stamens of the flowers hold a steady place in the studies of the plants of the rocky coasts.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The caper does a lot of work in the kitchen and the garden. The unopened flower buds are the capers of the kitchen, pickled and prized for their sharp, salty flavour, and the little, elongated fruits are the caperberries of the delis and the old recipes. The low, spreading shrub is also a fine, tough, easy plant of the sunny, dry, rocky bank, and the fine, white, pink-tinged flowers keep it handsome through the whole warm season. It has been written up in the culinary papers for the pickled buds, and it is a fine, easy plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

The caper is one of the great plants of the dry coasts, and the low, spreading, thorny shrub asks for very little beyond the sun and the well-drained ground. The fine, white, pink-tinged flowers with the long, airy stamens are one of the quiet beauties of the rocky banks, and every bud that is not picked opens into a fine, short-lived flower.

To grow the caper from seed, soak the small, hard seeds in warm water for a day, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of moist, free-draining soil, covering them thinly, keep them in a warm, bright, open spot and water gently. The seedlings are up within a few weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the well-drained ground, the fine, white flowers and the pickled buds of the kitchen will be there in a season or two.

 

 

 

 

Capparis spinosa capers the true alcaparras
Family: capparidaceae

Mediterranean native plant, with a natural distribution in the coastal regions of the whole border of the mediterranean sea west of the canary islands and morocco. Think therefore, that his old habitat was the dry areas of central and western asia.

Grows like a bush between 50 and 60 cm of very ornamental juicy leaves, spreading a profusion of white-pink floral buttons adorned with long and very scented features; which are the edible alcaparras of trade.

The caper plant is known for their culinary properties, wherein their imports floral buttons are preserved in wine, vinegar and salt.

They have been very used in salad, pasta, meat, fish and garnishes to add aroma and spicy flavor to food;

Its strong flavor like a spicy mustard is due to an enzymatic reaction with a mustling oil (methyl glucosinolate) that is released from vegetable tissues when crushed.

That plantinha that is in truth, button floral; it has been transformed in very personality that, that highlights the flavor of cold sauce, like the french, “rémoulade” and “tartare”, and the italian “green salsa”.

CAPER BUSH

CAPPARIS SPINOSA

SWEETLY FRAGRANT

FLESHY LEAVES, LARGE WHITE TO PINK FLOWERS AND LONG VIOLET STAMENS

EDIBLE FLOWER BUDS ARE PICKLED TO MAKE CAPERS

EDIBLE FRUITS ARE PICKLED FOR CAPER BERRIES

LEAVES ARE EATEN IN SALADS

PLANT GROWS AS A LOW LYING SHRUB

TOLERANT OF DROUGHT

TOLERANT OF MOST SOIL CONDITIONS

USED TO REDUCE SOIL EROSION AND ROCKY SLOPE PLANTINGS

PLANT HAS MEDICINAL VALUE