Caper Leaves!

October 21, 2013 at 1:03 am • Posted in Food, Greece by Lisa

(IMAGE: caper leaves are the heart shaped leaves on the left side of the plate)

In the midst of the planning process for this trip, we came up with a wacky idea that we never executed….ok, there was more than one

This idea was based on a comment our good pal Jamie O’Neill had in 2001 when we went around the world then. He said “you guys always buy such funky stuff when you travel…I wish you would just buy two of everything and then give me one and I would pay you back!” It was a cool idea……negotiate for 2 instead of 1 and ship both home.

So with this trip, we brainstormed about taking Jamie’s idea to the next level…it went something like this:

1) Find something cool

2) Put on etsy.com

3) Have friends and family place orders for item in 48 hour window

4) Then negotiate with vendor for X number of item based on friends and family demand

5) Ship everything to Seattle port and have importer break bulk and ship individual items off

It seemed like a doable plan but #5 stalled us out. We couldn’t identify an importer who could help us pull this off. Maybe it is because we didn’t focus on it….getting VISAs and booking accommodations ended up taking priority Oh well….

But as we left Santorini, I regretted never figuring out our scheme! Why? Because of caper leaves!

Caper leaves are LEAVES from the caper plant, not buds like the typical “capers” we buy for cooking in the US. Caper leaves are put in brine and used in cooking in Santorini. They are delicious! My sister, Kaarina, and I spent a good portion of our month in Santorini back in 1993 trying to figure out what caper leaves WERE! We kept encountering them in salads and asking what they were but nobody knew the english word for “caper leaves” and we still didn’t speak Greek. Finally, we found somebody who told us what they were, but back then, 20 years ago, they were hard to find in the grocery stores.

Capers growing naturally next to a stone wall on the side of the road!

Things have changed! Cliff and I went to a specialty food store on Santorini and they had PILES of caper leaves! Wahooooooo!!!!

Caper leaves piled high at store and only 2 euro per bottle!

We bought a couple jars for our apartment and polished them off in no time!

We looked on the web to see if we can get them in the USA but the only thing we found was on Amazon for $15 for the same small bottle. YIKES! If anybody has any ideas of how to become an importer of specialty foods, we should bring these to the US! They would be SOOO…. good on salmon and on bagels! http://santowines.gr/en/santorini-food-products/capers-a-caper-leaves

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Steven Christenson / October 27, 2013 at 3:04 am /

So great to meet you on the Barcelona flight and this is a great idea. I found the Santorini capers larger and distinctly different in taste from what I’m accustomed to in the US. Almost bought some leaves and capers to bring home for my son who is a great chef… but its lots to lug. I’d have taken you up on that deal (had I known about it, that is!)
- Cliff / October 29, 2013 at 1:43 am /
  
  Hey Steven, great to meet you guys as well! Hope you’re enjoying Barcelona! We are completely blown away by this city. I was wishing I had your photography abilities as I sat awes-struck inside Sagrada Familia yesterday… wow!
  - Steven Christenson / October 30, 2013 at 6:41 am /
    
    Wow is right! I’ll try and post one of Segrada soon and will be looking forward to yours. Unfortunately we leave Europe and head back to California tomorrow early. It’s a good thing though ’cause our dogs (feet, not the furry kind) are getting tired. I have posted one photo of Barcelona so far – <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/steventheamusing/10565131465/"the sun rising behind the W Hotel. Photographing through the thick window of our hotel was a little challenging.
    - Steven Christenson / October 30, 2013 at 6:43 am /
      
      Oops. messed up that last link… here it is again. http://www.flickr.com/photos/steventheamusing/10565131465/lightbox
Cari Johnson / October 27, 2013 at 1:12 pm /

I did not know that you also share a love of capers. I have 6 different kinds of capers in my fridge. Apparently it’s genetic because my father would also come home from store with a huge caper selection. I never knew about the leaves. Now I need to spend $18 on them !
Lisa DuFour / October 27, 2013 at 8:58 pm /

Those sound fabulous. I love capers!
Jamie / October 28, 2013 at 9:41 pm /

You could open a Caper Leaves store next to Cliff’s Toast store Too bad we did not get the container planned