Ask three buyers what a caperberry is and you may get three answers. Let's settle it: the caperberry is the fruit of the caper bush, picked with its stem after the flower has bloomed — while the caper is the flower bud, picked before it opens. Same plant, two different products, two different markets. If you buy for tapas bars, delis or cocktail programmes, this guide covers what to know before asking for a quotation.
One product, three trade names
The name you search with says which market you serve — and all three reach the same product:
- Alcaparrones — the Spanish name, and the biggest market: no serious tapas counter is complete without them;
- Cucunci — the Italian name, used for antipasti and aperitivo garnish;
- Caperberries — the English trade name, driven today by cocktail culture (they garnish a Martini or a Bloody Mary the way an olive does, with more visual effect).
In French they are câprons. Whatever the name on your spec sheet, the product is the fruit, stem on, olive-to-grape sized.
What matters in the cup: size, seeds, crunch
Caperberries are graded by diameter, like capers but on a larger scale. Smaller berries are firmer and crunchier with finer seeds; larger ones make more visual impact on a tapas plate or a cocktail pick. Inside, the berry is full of tiny seeds — that is normal and expected: they give the characteristic crunch. The stem is part of the product: it is the handle your end customer picks it up by.
Brine, vinegar — and the food-service formats
Like capers, caperberries are preserved three ways: in brine (the neutral, versatile standard), in vinegar (Spanish tapas style, ready to serve), or in dry salt for specific programmes. For volume buyers the formats that matter are drums and pails — the same food-service logic as our capers — with retail jars possible for private label. See our guide on salt, vinegar or brine — the chemistry is the same family.
From the same fields as our capers
CAPERSMED grows and processes caperberries at the same site as its capers, in Fès, Morocco — same harvest discipline, same traceability, same certifications. If you already buy our capers, adding caperberries to a container is the easiest line extension there is; if you don't, they are a good first product to test our quality on.
How to specify an order
A complete caperberry enquiry has five lines: calibre (diameter range), preservation (brine, vinegar, salt), stem (on is standard), format (drum, pail, jar), destination market. Send those five and we answer with figures, not a brochure.
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Buying caperberries in bulk? From our production site in Fès, Morocco, CAPERSMED exports worldwide — drums, pails and food-service formats. Request a quotation or write to us on WhatsApp: calibre, preservation, format, destination — we answer with figures.
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