We went to a really great Italian restaurant last night, and accompanying our pancetta appetizer was some sort of pickled vegetable that was quite tasty. They were small and green, about the size of a gumball or small jawbreaker, with lighter green stripes from top to bottom, except more drop shaped. When I bit into one it was mostly tightly packed little seeds inside. Any idea of what these might have been? I forgot to ask the waiter.
My guess is Caperberries. I can buy them at my local grocery store, and I live in the middle of nowhere, so you probably can too.
That’s exactly it! Thanks!
Luurve capers. Any mention of them, of course, leads to a story about them.
I was eating Chicken Piccatta at a small Italian joint in Dallas. I had pushed a few of the capers aside to savor them slowly. The owner walked by in his usual manner to greet all the guests. When he came by my table and noted I had a pile of capers going, he must have assumed I didn’t like them.
“Eat those things,” he said with a wink, “they’re expensive.”
Capers are different than caperberries, though. A caper is actually the bud of a caper plant. If allowed to mature (rather than being picked and eaten) it grows into a flower, which then produces a berry - the caperberry. They’re similiar in taste to capers, but milder and with a different texture. If you like capers, try the caperberries. More capery goodness!