You only have to SAY the word "capers" and I want them. I adore them. I choose the salmon & cream cheese bagel just for the capers and happily give the salmon to the cat.
Capers. Strange little things, I hear you mutter. What are they? Capers are pickled flower buds from the Greek & Cypriot plant, Capparis spinosa, sometimes also called the Flinders Rose. It's a culinary and medicinal shrub, perfect for rockeries and hot-dry spots in the garden. It grows easily on stony faces and on walls in a hot, dry climate.
Image Source: Otto Wilhelm Thomé (1840-1925) Public Domain from wikimedia.org
My penchant for capers is a family joke. I sometimes get a big jar for my birthday, given the price of imported capers here in Northern Thailand. I shall never forget the sheepish look on my 15 year old daughters face last year when she rushed to see me in hospital after a car accident. She'd had to get a Grab Taxi from school to the hospital emergency room where they were casting my badly broken arm. I asked her if she'd had enough money to pay the Grab driver, and she smiled very brightly. She dug around in her backpack and pulled out a jar of capers! "I had more than enough. I didn't have quite enough money left over for flowers, but I knew you'd want these!"
Strangest thing was that I DID want them. Despite being Nil Orally and woozy from pain killers. After the doctor was finished plastering and the nurse left the room for fresh towels, she quickly snuck a few in my mouth. That salty-sour taste was like pure medicine to me.
FFWD to this evening - just coming off my 24 hour weekly fast, I was making a big salad in the kitchen. We'd just had a fresh kombucha and I had sworn to not eat anything else until the salad and roasting veggies were ready, despite being rather peckish. I opened the fridge to get tomatoes and as soon as I saw them, I needed to eat a big spoonful! And I did.
Strange, cos icecream, cookies and chocolate can sit in the fridge or pantry for literally months without a flicker of interest from me. I chopped and sliced our salad and got so curious about WHY I crave capers. Especially after a fast, or when my body has been under physical stress.
I did some reading and came across a fascinating natural medicine use for capers which originates in Iran.
In Iranian folk medicine, capers are given as an anti-hyperglycaemic medicine. Hyperglycaemia is when the blood sugar rises too high and, interestingly, this is common when fasting. Actually, it's a sign your fasting is working.
Fasting can definitely raise blood glucose. This is due to the effect of insulin falling and the rising counter-regulatory hormones including increased sympathetic tone, noradrenaline, cortisol and growth hormone, in addition to glucagon. These all have the effect of pushing glucose from liver storage into the blood. This is normal. If you are not eating, you want to use some stored glucose. The question is this – if you are not eating, and your blood glucose went up, where did that glucose come from? It can only have come from your own body (liver). So, it’s a natural phenomenon, and the fasting now allows your body to use some of the glucose for energy.Source
Clinical studies conducted at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran confirm this ages-old natural medicine:
Results showed significant decrease in fasting blood glucose levels (p=0.037) and glycosylated hemoglobin (p=0.043) in caper treated patients compared to control group at the end of the study. Triglyceride level also decreased significantly (p=0.29) in caper treated group at the end of the study compared to baseline. No liver, kidney and other side effects were observed in these two groups. Caper fruit extract may be a safe anti-hyperglycemic and anti-hypertriglyceridemic agent for type 2 diabetic patients. Source
I marveled as we chomped on our salads tonight that the body is so deeply intuitive. I was also was pleased to have learned that this blood sugar symptom is a sign of efficient fasting and nothing to stress about. Phew! My daughter marveled at her own intuition at buying capers for me at the hospital. We both remembered the clumsy one-armed sneaking of capers behind the nurse's back. And we laughed.
BlissednBlessed. Grateful. Learning everyday.
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