@basika 20 March 2022

Caper has been known since ancient times as a spice, but also as a medicinal plant and aphrodisiac. Its pickled buds are known to us as a delicacy from Central and Southern Dalmatia. Today, this wild plant is adored and treated as a delicacy in all Mediterranean countries. There is much more of it on the desert islands than on the populated ones, not only because people pick it, but goats and sheep like to eat it and destroy it by budding. Caper is a perennial plant that thrives on the shores of the Mediterranean. In our country, it grows wild in sheltered places on walls and ruins and between rocky rocks on the islands and islets of central and southern Dalmatia. It buds and blooms from May to September. The beautiful delicate flower is very short-lived; it blooms in the evening to attract insects by dawn with an intense scent. The heat of the day dries it up quickly, so its beauty lasts only one day. The buds are processed into a highly prized and relatively expensive delicacy. I really appreciate it and I always have it in my kitchen.