Discover Capers: The Bold Ingredient That Transforms Mundane Meals into Flavorful Delights

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Capers may seem like a pretty uninspiring ingredient — small as they are — but these little flavor bombs are pure gold for your cooking. Capers are a key ingredient in dishes like Bobby Flay’s lemony chicken piccata — although this Italian-American dish has roots that go back much further than the celebrity chef (Flay also adds capers and brown butter to fresh-caught trout on his camping trips, so he may just be operating at a higher level than the rest of us). They’re also key to classic recipes such as tapenade, tartar sauce, and spaghetti alla puttanesca, among other fan favorites.

But what are capers? Where are they grown? How are they processed on their journey from the plant to the table? What else can you do with them besides pop them on a lox bagel? These are all good questions, and we have some answers for you. Here’s everything you need to know about how to source and use the not-so-humble caper.

Capers are an ingredient most people probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about. They come in a jar; they’re salty and briny; end of story. If you’ve pondered them at all, you’ve probably assumed they were some kind of berry (not helped by the fact that caperberries exist). However, caperberries and capers are two different things.

Capers are the actual berries of the caper bush (Capparis spinosa) before they have matured and grown hard seeds. Caperberries, while they may look like tiny fruits, are actually unopened flower buds. The caper bush is a perennial shrub with white flowers that open to reveal beautiful pink-purple stamen. Bushes can grow quite large, especially when naturalized in their arid home range of the Mediterranean and Near East.

The caper genus actually contains around 250 species of trees and shrubs, several of which have edible components, but Capparis spinosa is the one we know as the “caper.” Meanwhile, other variations have different culinary uses, such as the Capparis zeylandica, which serves as a curry base in some cuisines. As far as the caper bush itself, you can eat the buds, flowers, or tips of the plant’s stems.

Humans have been using capers as an ingredient for a long time. Indeed, they get a shoutout in the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written 4,000 years ago in Ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Syria and Iraq), as well as in the Bible. In addition to their frequent use in Greek and Roman cooking and medicine, they’ve also been found in Chinese, Iranian, Indian, and Turkish tombs.

Today, you’ll still find them growing across the Mediterranean and Near East, from the Acropolis to the Wailing Wall and Spain to Sicily. They’re common in Italian and other Mediterranean cuisines, but you’ll also find them in British and Eastern European cooking, as well as Arabian, Egyptian, and Central Asian cuisines.

They’ve made their way into New American cooking as well. While the exact moment some enterprising deli owner discovered that capers are the perfect addition to a lox bagel is hard to pinpoint, they are a classic today (Just make sure, if you decide to replicate this classic at home, that you put the capers directly onto the cream cheese, so they’ll stick. According to the experts, it’s the only way to go).

An obvious follow-up to the question of “What are capers?” is the question “What do capers taste like?” Anyone who has ever sampled this ingredient will know they taste salty and have a strong bite, like many pickled foods. However, capers have more depth than that, with notes of lemon and flowers, as well as a briny, savory taste. If you had to compare them to anything, it would probably be olives. However, olives are meaty, while capers have a slight squish that is definitely more reminiscent of foliage than fruit.

The tanginess of capers makes them well-suited to pair with other light, bright flavors. For instance, they’re delicious in salads and in pastas made with lemon or cream. Alcohol pairings with caper-forward dishes like chicken piccata include pinot grigio, mango beer, and limoncello.

As for appearance, the little buds are shaped like tiny onions. If you look closely at them, you can see that they are, in fact, unopened flowers, with tiny sepals (those little green leaf structures at the base of a flower) wrapped around the interior petals.

Another follow-up to the “What are capers?” query is “Does size matter?” and the answer is a qualified yes. Yes, because capers come in different sizes, and because the smaller sizes are said to be more tender. However, it’s only a qualified yes — as far as most people are concerned — because getting those different sizes can be tough.

Capers are traditionally named according to their size. If you look at most grocery store jars, you will see “non-pareils” on the label, which is the smallest size, up to 7 millimeters. They then progress through surfines (up to 8 millimeters), capucines (up to 9 millimeters), capotes (up to 11 millimeters), fines (up to 13 millimeters), and grusas (14 millimeters or higher). The smaller capers are crunchier, giving that characteristic pop we expect in a bagel or a salad. The larger ones are closer to a veggie, best used in stews and sauces as a flavoring agent rather than a bright garnish.

If you really care about trying the different sizes, you’ve got a task ahead of you. The smallest ones are the easiest to find. You can go online and simply purchase Sanniti Spanish Non-Pareil Capers. That’s just one brand, however; you will find many more both online and at your local grocery store. If you want a slightly bigger option, Sanniti Spanish Capers Capotes will do the trick. The other four sizes are difficult to come by. You’ll usually have to visit a specialty shop for these.

Capers can’t be eaten right off the bush because they’re pretty bitter. Instead, growers wait until buds form, then harvest them at this stage. Each plant may provide as many as 12 rounds of harvesting every flowering season, which makes it a labor-intensive process and helps explain the relatively high price point.

Covering the caper buds in a sea salt and water solution — brine, essentially — helps remove bitterness, while also encouraging the release of mustard oil, which gives them a zesty flavor. Once the bitter taste has been leached out, capers then undergo a curing process.

There are two basic approaches to preserving capers: pickling or salt-curing. When pickling, a salty, vinegary brine is used to cover the capers. While this is efficient and shelf-stable and the form in which many home chefs encounter them, it’s not necessarily the best one. The vinegar can swamp the natural floral notes of the caper bud itself. That’s why, according to some experts, it’s better to salt-cure capers, which helps them maintain more of their own natural flavor.

Although most of us are used to seeing capers in jars of brine, that’s not the only way you can get them. If you’re going for a real salt bomb of an experience, try getting a jar of Spanish capers packed in sea salt. They’re perfect as a garnish and the beautiful, crystallized salt on top makes them even prettier, though for some dishes you may wish to wash it off. You can also find them dehydrated and powdered, freeze-dried, or packed in oil (such as Antonino Caravaglio Marinated Capers with Herbs In Extra Virgin Olive Oil), but these preparations are less common.

The most common option you will find is some variation on pickled non-pareils. You can also get salt-cured options, such as La Nicchia Capers in Sea Salt. Also, don’t be confused if, at the grocery store, you see caperberries in a jar next to capers. These have a similar flavor to capers, but they’ve got a little more meat to them: you can slice them in half and they will hold their shape. If you want to give them a try, Fratelli D’Amico Caperberries might be a good option.

When looking for capers, you needn’t be too picky about where they were grown, as their provenance matters less than it does for other specialty foods. You can, in other words, grow good capers in a wide variety of places (unlike, say, certain wine grapes). Their sourcing location means less than it does for specialty items like booze, cheese, or olives.

However, there are some tips for choosing a good caper. First, look for the right size. In America, the default is non-pareils, but if a recipe calls for a certain size, you should make an effort to locate it. The consistency of the caper changes from crunchy pop to more vegetal in nature with less of a briny flavor, so follow the recipe’s lead. Next, check the ingredient list for preservatives. Common ones include lactic, citric, or acetic acids, all of which can dampen the complex tangy and floral notes capers are supposed to bring to the table. Finally, super-cheap capers probably aren’t worth it because you’ll mostly taste vinegar … if anything.

Although the pure saltiness of capers is appreciated in some dishes, in others, you will get better flavor if you first soak and then rinse them. This is true for both brined and salted capers because the curing agents can overpower the natural floral notes and the faint mustard-like zing that makes capers so moreish to nibble on. Soaking and rinsing help wash away some of the stronger tastes and allow the true flavor of the caper bud to shine through.

This is especially true for salt-packed capers, which are especially sodium-forward. If you’re going to use them in a recipe, first, soak them for about 15 minutes in cold water, and then rinse. Afterward, chop them finely and mix them into your recipe, where they will distribute their essence gently instead of swamping the flavors of your other ingredients.

What are capers if not the perfect ingredient for appetizers? They seem tailor-made for the job: uniquely flavored, salty, and briny, and all in one adorable package that makes a perfect garnish. They’re wonderful on roasted vegetables, deviled eggs, dips, and spreads. They are a classic tapenade ingredient, where they lend their salty and slightly tangy flavor to this delicious olive-based spread.

You can also fry capers, which makes them crunchy and crispy. Some of them will also “bloom” into more fully realized flower buds during cooking, which is beautiful. Fried capers are amazing on top of bread and cheese or crostini, for example, but equally good on croquettes or with fried cauliflower.

When making a flavorful homemade aioli for dipping fried goodies, capers are a great way to give your sauce a little extra tang and brininess, which works perfectly in creamy condiments. Just make sure to use a good blender so that your sauce will be smooth and creamy (This writer loves the Ninja BN751 Professional Plus DUO Blender and uses it for making dips like this).

Capers are a wonderful ingredient for taking main dishes to the next level. Because they are salty and acidic, but still delicate, they’re incredibly versatile, adding unique flavor to many recipes, from salads and meats to stews and seafood. They add a vinegary pop of salt that bursts in your mouth and complements fresh greens, starchy vegetables and grains, and various kinds of pasta. You can pair them with radishes in a salad, make a caper steak sauce for a weeknight dinner that’s packed with umami flavor, or cook them with garlic and butter for a light but tasty garnish.

Need inspiration from the greats? Julia Child elevated her tuna salad sandwiches with crunchy capers. They’re also a key ingredient in tartar sauce-inspired potato salad, which you can improve even more with a few additional capers scattered through for beauty and flavor. You can even use capers to make a tasty nut-free pesto, according to the ever-creative Rachel Ray.

If you want a real culinary adventure, try sourcing some caper leaves. These are pickled, just like the flower buds, in brine or vinegar, with similar flavor results. You can use them in a variety of ways, from fish and veggie dishes to dressings. They’ll bring that characteristic floral, slightly lemony, salty, briny zing to the plate. You’ll almost feel that Mediterranean island breeze on your cheek … though you may need to go to Italy to get them.

If you’re doing “lifted brow emoji” right now, no one would blame you — but, yes, people are putting capers in their cocktails. They’re also using the brine itself as an ingredient, a fun twist on the dirty martini, which traditionally uses olive juice. The updated “filthy martini” is not so much extra-dirty as extra-interesting, using caper brine along with a cocktail onion and blue cheese olive brine. Just make sure you have some nice glasses to serve your filthy creation in — these Mikasa Cheers martini glasses or Riedel Vinum XL martini glasses would work.

You can also make a caper margarita, which blends tequila, lime juice, agave syrup, capers, and brine into a chilled cocktail that would be at home in both Mexico and the Mediterranean. Pro tip: add chili flakes to the rim along with salt. Flex those continental vibes a little bit more with a Venetian spritz cocktail: crushed ice, capers, tsipouro, vermouth, and caper brine muddled together and strained into a martini glass.

As for dessert, capers make an appearance there, too. Although you may have to take a trip to Greece to experience this (again, shucks, right?), you can find capers in the form of a “spoon sweet.” These traditional preserves are a mainstay of Greek culture and can be made using a huge array of fruits, veggies, and flowers that are cooked in syrup with lemon and spices and dished out by the spoonful. Capers can be given the same treatment, though again, you may need a plane ticket to experience it.

Capers are an ingredient that lasts a long time because of the pickling process. Both brine (with salt and vinegar) and pure salt are excellent preservatives, so you don’t need to worry about your capers going bad once opened. Unopened, you can keep them in the pantry for around two years (perhaps longer) as long as you store them in a cool, dry place, away from light and any heat sources. If you can’t reliably keep your pantry below 75 degrees Fahrenheit, you should store unopened caper jars in the fridge.

Once opened, put capers right in the fridge and make sure to keep them covered with brine. The brine ensures they stay fresh, plump, and protected against going bad. If you accidentally pour out the brine, you can make a quick replacement brine that you might use for soaking meats, using 1½ tablespoons of salt for every cup of water. Pour that over the capers to preserve them. If you’re not going to use them in time, you can drain the capers and put them in an airtight container, and then store them in the freezer.

Turns out, capers are pretty good for you … which is saying something when you consider what a sodium punch they pack. While the salt content might be something to watch, it’s hard to eat enough capers to load up on the ol’ salt, so it’s not really something to worry about. If you’re using capers as recommended by recipes, you typically won’t use that many. If you soak them, you’ll remove even more of the excess sodium.

The better news is that capers contain important micronutrients such as vitamin K, iron, copper, and magnesium, so they can provide part of your daily intake of these vitamins and minerals. They also contain powerful antioxidants including flavonoids, alkaloids, and glucosinolates. Together, these have been shown to have numerous potential health benefits: antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties among them. Antioxidants may also help protect your kidneys and perhaps fight cancer as well.