Today’s make something assignment was to work with items found in the refrigerator or freezer.

I went to the fridge and stood there, gazing in at the leftovers and condiments, wasting energy the very way my children do when they can’t figure out what to eat for breakfast or after-school snack. I closed the door and tried the freezer. Nothing. Back to the fridge, where a jar of capers became the most interesting food item on hand.

What is a caper anyway? I mean, I know what they look like, how they taste, and how to use them. I toss them into Chicken Piccata, and my daughters like to eat them straight up from the jar. (Crazy, I know.)

But where do they come from? Huffpost Taste enlightened me:

“Surprisingly capers are actually pickled flower buds. Yes, really! Tiny capers are picked from a shrub-like bush (Capparis spinosa), long before the buds ever flower. The capers are then dried in the sun and later brined or packed in salt.”

(Excerpted from What Are Capers And Where Are They From?) 

They’re baby flowers! Pretty cool, huh bud?