Product knowledge
What Are Capers Made From?
Capers are the unopened flower buds of the caper bush (Capparis spinosa), a low, spiny Mediterranean shrub — hand-picked while still tightly closed, before they have any chance to bloom into flowers. Raw caper buds are bitter and unpalatable on their own, so like olives, they're brine-cured or salt-cured after picking, a process that both removes the raw bitterness and develops the distinctive tangy, salty, faintly mustardy flavour capers are known for. Nothing about a finished caper is 'raw' — curing is what turns the bud into the pantry ingredient.
Bud size is also part of how capers are graded and sold, which matters more to how a caper performs in a dish than most buyers expect going in.
Flower buds, not berries
The caper bush also produces a fruit — the caperberry — once a bud is left unpicked long enough to flower and pollinate, but the caper itself is always the bud, picked well before that happens. Buds are typically hand-harvested in the early morning, sorted by size, and cured within a short window of picking, since bitterness and quality both depend on catching them at the right stage.
Capers vs caperberries
Caperberries are a genuinely different product from the same plant: larger, oval, sold with their stem often still attached and small seeds visible inside once cut, and generally milder than the tiny buds. They're more often served whole — as a garnish on a cocktail, for instance — rather than chopped or worked into a sauce the way capers are. If a recipe calls for capers specifically, a caperberry is not a straightforward substitute; the flavour is noticeably softer and the format is entirely different.
Why capers taste salty
The salt is entirely a function of curing, not a natural trait of the raw bud. Brine curing submerges the buds in a salt-water solution for an extended period, which is what both removes bitterness and imparts the tang and saltiness capers are known for; a dry salt-curing method achieves a similar result through direct salting rather than a liquid brine. Either way, rinsing a jarred or salted caper briefly before use is a common kitchen step to soften that saltiness without losing the caper's core flavour.
Bud grading, and what we stock
Capers are commercially graded by bud size, with smaller generally considered more delicate and prized: our Caper from Lio Food in Latakia, Syria, spans grades from nonpareils and surfines (4–9 mm) up through capucines, capotes and fines (up to 11–13 mm), packed in 300 g and 360 g glass jars, case of 12. See do you sell capers in 4L foodservice tubs? for how our case-and-jar format scales for a working kitchen, and capers and desert truffles: two Levantine fine foods worth knowing for the wider specialty-shelf picture.
Related questions
Do smaller capers taste different from larger ones?
Smaller grades like nonpareils are generally considered more delicate and are often preferred for finishing dishes, while larger grades hold up better in longer-cooked preparations. The core flavour is the same caper flavour across sizes.
Should capers be rinsed before cooking?
Many cooks rinse or briefly soak brined or salted capers to soften the saltiness before adding them to a dish, though it's a preference rather than a strict requirement.
Can caperberries replace capers in a recipe?
Not directly — caperberries are milder and much larger, and are typically served whole rather than chopped into a sauce or dressing the way capers are used.