CAPERS

the flower-buds of the caper-bush, growing in countries along the Mediterranean and in India. They are used as pickles and to add to sauces. The caper crop is gathered from June to September or October, the end of July giving the heaviest yield. After picking, they are carefully dried and then stored in barrels of brine or vinegar, the latter being sometimes flavored with tarragon sprigs, elder flowers, cloves, or peppercorns. During the following winter the capers are graded by pa ing through sieves— the smallest being esteemed the best—and are then replaced in the barrels and thus preserved until sold. Before shipment they are washed in vinegar of a standard of 12° (this to render them firm) and then filled into barrels without vinegar, the finer qualities to be repacked in bottles, ete. A fraud sometimes attempted is to mix with the capers a quantity of nasturtium berries, which resemble them in size and appearance. The buds of the bean-caper % are also substituted.