Capers are little green berry-sized foods that add much flavor to recipes, and they are a staple in Mediterranean cooking. ... While many people think capers are a kind of vegetable, they are closer to being a fruit. Capers grow on the caper bush, known as capparis spinosa.

Are capers fruit or vegetable?

Capers (or caper buds) are about the size of a small pea. The berries are what grow after the plant has already flowered, and the petals have peppered the ground, and they're considered a fruit.

What exactly is a caper?

Capers are immature flower buds from the Capparis spinosa (aka the “caper bush”), which grow all over the Mediterranean, just like olives do. ... Then they're pickled in vinegar or preserved in salt because eaten freshly picked, they'd taste no better than a freshly picked olive, which is to say, not so good.