Capers from Salina
Our capers come from the tiny island of Salina, off the southern Italian coast, (where we also happen to have our only non-UK Franco Manca outpost). They’re picked in the area of Pollara and Malfa.
If you really want to impress your food-lover friends, you can tell them that our capers are of the Nocella variety, which grow plump, round and bright green with pinkish stripes. Our friend Antonino uses an ancient technique of reproducing the capers by plant cutting instead of planting seeds. This means he is able to cultivate only the best shrubs. It also means he can grow them wild and without any fertilisers, pesticides or added substances. Once picked, his caper berries and buds are cured in sea salt, for over a month and a half, during which the salt is regularly changed and the capers aired. Once they are ready, they are preserved in white wine vinegar, olive oil or under salt. Almost everything is done by hand to protect the delicate buds.
We’ve tried a lot of capers in our time, and none have matched those found on the island of Salina.