benefits of capers

People use capers for diabetes, fungal infections, chest congestion, worms in the intestines, and a skin disease caused by parasites called leishmaniasis. Capers are also used as a tonic. People use capers for diabetes, fungal infections, chest congestion, worms in the intestines, and a skin disease caused by parasites called leishmaniasis. Capers are also used as a tonic. Some people apply capers directly to the skin for dry skin and other skin disorders and for improving blood flow near the skin

Caper may have beneficial health effects, especially for people whose meals are rich in fats and red meats, the study concluded. The unique flavor of capers makes them a very desirable ingredient in the Mediterranean basin. But, great taste is just the beginning of the good news about capers.

The shrubby plant is many branched, with alternate leaves, thick and shiny, round to ovate in shape. The flowers are complete, sweetly fragrant, and showy, with four sepals and four white to pinkish white petals, and many long violet colored stamens, and a single stigma usually rising well above the stamens.

The caper bush has developed a series of mechanisms that reduce the impact of high radiation levels, high daily temperature, and insufficient soil water during its growing period. The caper bush has a curious reaction to sudden increases in humidity; it forms wart like pock marks across the leaf surface. This is apparently harmless, as the plant quickly adjusts to the new conditions and produces unaffected leaves. It also shows characteristics of a plant adapted to poor soils.

Capers can be grown easily from fresh seeds gathered from ripe fruit and planted into well drained seed raising mix. Seedlings appear in two to four weeks. Old, stored seeds enter a state of dormancy and require cold stratification to germinate. The viable embryos germinate within three to four days after partial removal of the lignified seed coats. The seed coats and the mucilage surrounding the seeds may be ecological adaptations to avoid water loss and conserve seed viability during the dry season.

Capers are a distinctive ingredient in Italian cuisine, especially in Sicilian and southern Italian cooking. They are commonly used in salads, pasta salads, meat dishes, and pasta sauces. Examples of uses in Italian cuisine are chicken piccata and spaghetti alla puttanesca. Capers are known for being one of the ingredients of tartar sauce. They are often served with cold smoked salmon or cured salmon dishes (especially lox and cream cheese). Capers and caper berries are sometimes substituted for olives to garnish a martini.

Caper leaves, which are hard to find outside of Greece or Cyprus, are used particularly in salads and fish dishes. They are pickled or boiled and preserved in jars with brine