The caper (Capparis spinosa L.) is a biennial spiny shrub that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and big white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant. The bush is native to the Mediterranean region, growing wild on walls or in rocky coastal areas throughout. The plant is best known for the edible bud and fruit (caper berry) which are usually consumed pickled. Other species of Capparis are also picked along with C. spinosa for their buds or fruits. Download high resolution version (800x638, 104 KB)This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... Divisions Green algae Chlorophyta Charophyta Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Marchantiophyta—liverworts Anthocerotophyta—hornworts Bryophyta—mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) †Rhyniophyta—rhyniophytes †Zosterophyllophyta—zosterophylls Lycopodiophyta—clubmosses †Trimerophytophyta—trimerophytes Pteridophyta—ferns and horsetails Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta—seed ferns Pinophyta—conifers Cycadophyta—cycads Ginkgophyta—ginkgo Gnetophyta—gnetae Magnoliophyta—flowering plants... Classes Magnoliopsida - Dicots Liliopsida - Monocots The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. ... Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class: this name is formed by replacing the termination -aceae in the name Magnoliaceae by the termination -opsida (Art 16 of the ICBN). ... Families See text. ... genera See text. ... Capparis is a genus of plant in family Capparaceae. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Carl Linnaeus, Latinized as Carolus Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as  , (May 23, 1707[1] – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist[2] who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of nomenclature. ... Trinomial name Capparis spinosa ssp. ... The caper story is a subgenre of crime fiction. ... A big caper movie is the equivalent to a Caper story in film history. ... A Biennial plant is a plant that takes between twelve and twenty-four months to complete its lifecycle. ... The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. ...

The plant

Capparis spinosa is highly variable in nature in its native habitats and is found growing near the closely related species C. sicula, C. orientalis, and C. aegyptia. Scientists can use the known distributions of each species to identify the origin of commercially prepared capers.^[1][2]

The shrubby plant is many-branched, with alternate leaves, thick and shiny, round to ovate in shape. The flowers are complete, showy, with four sepals, and four white to pinkish-white petals, many long violet-colored stamens, and a single stigma usually rising well above the stamens.^[3] Close-up of an Echinopsis spachiana flower, showing both carpels and stamen, making it a complete flower. ...

Culinary Uses

Salted capers.

Pickled Capers in a jar

The salted and pickled caper bud (also called caper) is often used as a seasoning or garnish. Capers are a common ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine. The grown fruit of the caper shrub is also used, and prepared similarly to the buds to be used as caper berries. Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1392x753, 217 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Caper Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1392x753, 217 KB) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Caper Metadata This file contains additional information, probably added from the digital camera or scanner used to create... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 161 × 597 pixel Image in higher resolution (270 × 1002 pixel, file size: 76 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Capers jar This image was created by Whitebox, and is licensed under the following license I, the creator of this work, hereby grant... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 161 × 597 pixel Image in higher resolution (270 × 1002 pixel, file size: 76 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Capers jar This image was created by Whitebox, and is licensed under the following license I, the creator of this work, hereby grant... Lactose is a disaccharide found in milk. ... Dietary fibers are the indigestible portion of plant foods that move food through the digestive system, absorbing water, making defecation easier. ... In chemistry, especially biochemistry, a fatty acid is a carboxylic acid often with a long unbranched aliphatic tail (chain), which is either saturated or unsaturated. ... A representation of the 3D structure of myoglobin, showing coloured alpha helices. ... For other uses, see Vitamin C (disambiguation). ... General Name, symbol, number iron, Fe, 26 Chemical series transition metals Group, period, block 8, 4, d Appearance lustrous metallic with a grayish tinge Standard atomic weight 55. ... Jordanian and Israeli salt evaporation ponds at the south end of the Dead Sea Sodium chloride, also known as common salt, table salt, or halite, is a chemical compound with the formula NaCl. ... Reference Daily Intake (RDI) is the daily dietary intake level of a nutrient considered sufficient to meet the requirements of nearly all (97–98%) healthy individuals in each life-stage and gender group. ... Salting is the preparation of food with salt. ... Cucumbers gathered for pickling. ... Seasoning is the process of adding flavours, or enhancing natural flavour of any type of food. ... Garnish is a substance used primarily as an embellishment or decoration to a prepared food or drink item. ... The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. ... Cuisine (from French cuisine, cooking; culinary art; kitchen; ultimately from Latin coquere, to cook) is a specific set of cooking traditions and practices, often associated with a specific culture. ... For other uses, see Fruit (disambiguation). ... A broom shrub in flower A shrub or bush is a horticultural rather than strictly botanical category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 6 m tall. ...

The buds, when ready to pick, are a dark olive green and about the size of a kernel of maize. They are picked, then pickled in salt, or a salt and vinegar solution. Olive is a dulled, darker yellowish-green color typically seen on green olives. ... “Corn” redirects here. ... Cucumbers gathered for pickling. ... For other uses, see Salt (disambiguation). ... Vinegar is sometimes infused with spices or herbs—as here, with oregano. ... Making a saline water solution by dissolving table salt (NaCl) in water This article is about chemical solutions. ...

Capers are a distinctive ingredient in Sicilian and Southern Italian cooking, used in salads, pizzas, meat dishes and pasta sauces. Examples of uses in Italian cuisine are Chicken piccata and Salsa puttanesca. They are also often served with cold smoked salmon or cured salmon dishes (especially lox and cream cheese). Capers are also sometimes substituted for olives to garnish a martini. Salad Platter Salad is a light meal — or, as part of a larger meal, much more of an appetizer — consisting of mixed vegetables (usually including at least one leaf vegetable) or fruit, often with a dressing or sauce, occasionally nuts and sometimes with the addition of meat, fish or cheese. ... A pizza with tomatoes, field mushrooms, and onions as toppings. ... Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults. ... For the computer protocol, see SAUCE In cooking, a sauce is a liquid served on or used in the preparation of food. ... Italian cuisine is extremely varied: the country of Italy was only officially unified in 1861, and its cuisines reflect the cultural variety of its regions and its diverse history (with culinary influences from Greek, Roman, Gallic, Germanic, Goth, Norman, Lombard, Frank, Turkish, Hebrew, Slavic, Arab and Chinese civilizations). ... Chicken piccata is a dish made of chicken breast scallopine (cutlets), capers, lemon and white wine. ... A plate of home-made Puttanesca with olives, tomatoes, anchovies, capers, and garlic, served with rigatoni Pasta Puttanesca (Italian Pasta alla Puttanesca) is a traditional Italian pasta dish made with a sauce named sugo alla puttanesca. ... Wikibooks Cookbook has more about this subject: Smoking Smoking is the process of preserving, cooking, or flavoring food by exposing it to the smoke from burning or smoldering plant materials, most often wood. ... Illustration of a male Coho Salmon The Chinook or King Salmon is the largest salmon in North America and can grow to 1. ... Cured salmon and other fish recipes have been found in many cultures stretching from the people of early to modern Scandinavia to the Native Americans. ... Lox can stand for any of several things: Lox (salmon) - a type of salmon produce LOx (oxidizer) - liquid oxygen used as oxidizer in aerospace The Lox - was a Yonkers, NY-based rap trio This is a disambiguation page — a list of articles associated with the same title. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

Capers are categorized and sold by their size, defined as follows, with the smallest sizes being the most desirable: Non-pareil (0-7 mm), surfines (7-8 mm), capucines (8-9 mm), capotes (9-11 mm), fines (11-13 mm), and grusas (14+ mm).

Unripe nasturtium seeds can be substituted for capers; they have a very similar texture and flavour when pickled. Species About 80 species, see text. ...

Medicinal Uses

In Greek popular medicine a herbal tea made of caper root and young shoots is considered to be beneficial against rheumatism. Dioscoride (MM 2.204t) also provides instructions on the use of sprouts, roots, leaves and seeds in the treatment of strangury and inflammation. Medicine is the science and art of maintaining andor restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of patients. ... Rheumatism or Rheumatic disorder is a non-specific term for medical problems affecting the heart, bones, joints, kidney, skin and lung. ... Strangury is a frequent need to urinate but with slow urine production. ... An abscess on the skin, showing the redness and swelling characteristic of inflammation. ...

History

The caper was used in ancient Greece as a carminative. It is represented in archaeological levels in the form of carbonised seeds and rarely as flowerbuds and fruits from archaic and Classical antiquity contexts. Athenaeus in Deipnosophistae pays a lot of attention to the caper, as do Pliny (NH XIX, XLVIII.163) and Theophrastus.^[4] The Temple of Athena, the Parthenon Ancient Greece is a period in Greek history that lasted for around nine hundred years. ... A carminative, also known as carminativum ( plural: carminativa), is a medicinal drug with antispasmodic activity that is used against cramps of the digestive tract in combination with flatulence. ... Carbonization is the term for the conversion of an organic substance into carbon or a carbon-containing residue. ... This writeup is about biological seeds; for other meanings see Seed (disambiguation). ... Archaic is a generic adjective that can refer to several things from the past. ... Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, which begins roughly with the earliest-recorded Greek poetry of Homer (7th century BC), and continues through the rise of Christianity and the fall of the Western Roman Empire (5th century AD... Athenaeus (ca. ... The Deipnosophistes (deipnon “dinner” and sophistae, “the wise ones”) is variously translated as The Banquet of the Learned or Philosophers at Dinner or The Gastronomers is work of some 15 books (some complete and some surviving in summaries only) by the ancient Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis in Egypt, written... There are two famous persons named Pliny: Pliny the Elder, a Roman nobleman, scientist and historian who died in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD The great-nephew of the former, Pliny the Younger, a statesman, orator, and writer who lived between 62 AD and 113 AD. This... Theophrastus (Greek Θεόφραστος, 370 — about 285 BC), a native of Eressos in Lesbos, was the successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school. ...

The caper-berry is mentioned in the Bible in the book of Ecclesiastes as "avionah" according to modern interpretation of the word. This Gutenberg Bible is displayed by the United States Library. ... Ecclesiastes, Qohelet in Hebrew, is a book of the Hebrew Bible. ...

References

1. ^ Fici, S (October, 2001). "Intraspecific variation and evolutionary trends in Capparis spinosa L. (Capparaceae)". Plant Systematics and Evolution 228 (3-4): 123-141. DOI:10.1007/s006060170024. Retrieved on 21 November 2006. 
2. ^ Inocencio, C; F Alcaraz, F Calderón, C Obón, D Rivera (April, 2002). "The use of floral characters in Capparis sect. Capparis' to determine the botanical and geographical origin of capers". European Food Research and Technology 214 (4): 335-339. DOI:10.1007/200217-001-1465-7. Retrieved on 21 November 2006. 
3. ^ Watson, L.; MJ Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants. Retrieved on 21 November 2006.
4. ^ Fragiska, M. (2005). Wild and Cultivated Vegetables, Herbs and Spices in Greek Antiquity. Environmental Archaeology 10 (1): 73-82

A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ... A digital object identifier (or DOI) is a standard for persistently identifying a piece of intellectual property on a digital network and associating it with related data, the metadata, in a structured extensible way. ...

External links

• Gernot Katzer's Spice Dictionary — Caper
• Caper factsheet — NewCROP, Purdue University
• Article about the capers of Salina Island
• Capparidaceae (alternative name for Capparaceae) in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
• Capers, The Flower Inside About Greek capers