Picking Capers in August

August is the time in Tuscany for picking and brining capers.  The bushes grow wild on the old walls of cities, towns and ancient buildings and they're free for the picking, provided you have a ladder.

Cascading Caper Bushes

Capers are widely used in Tuscan cuisine to give a bright flavor to simple dishes like baked chicken or salsa verde, and the preserved caper berries are excellent in place of olives with an aperitivo.

Capers are actually the buds of the caper flower, which is a wild, spikey looking blossom.  After the flower opens and falls off, the caper berry forms on a long stem and grows larger the longer it's left on.  By August it's possible to see on a single branch all stages of this; the capers on the end of the branch, the flowers blooming in the middle and the caper berries hanging on their stems closer to the wall.

Caper flower and berries

Many meats go beautifully with capers such as veal, chicken or turkey.  Piccata is a typical Italian dish featuring capers as a main component in the sauce and is excellent in the summer, as it's light and easy to cook, quick and fresh at the end of a long hot day.  In Tuscany we brine the capers and berries, but in Sicily they salt-cure them, which are even better.  If you can find them, get them and be sure to rinse them well before using.