Horticultural Inquisitiveness

I don’t like to not know something “horticultural” once it crosses my path. Take capers, for example. I had some capers on a pasta dish I ordered at lunch today, and my mom asked me what capers were. I didn’t really know. I knew you could buy them at the store, and they are little and green and look sort of like tiny olives.

So, I did what anyone would do! I looked it up on the Internet. I found out that capers are the immature flower buds from a small shrub that grows in the Mediterranean region. Capparis spinosa. They pick the buds in the early morning and then pack them in either a salt brine or vinegar. Chefs use them to add a little bit of punch or sour-ness to a variety of pasta and meat and fish dishes.