Capers and city living

There are many advantages to living in central Bristol, the proximity to the harbourside and Park St, easy access to lovely locations such as Brandon Hill, and food establishments such as Flinty Red and Papadeli. One huge disadvantage, however, is the price of capers. There are eight Tesco supermarkets in Bristol and the biggest one in the city centre is at the Galleries off Union St and really it’s not big enough to push a trolley around. Over the last few years their prices on capers have varied to a ridiculous extent from 99p to the extortionate £3.12 last week.

Waitrose is currently selling them £1.46. The Waitrose branded capers are being sold part of Heston Blumenthal’s recipe of the week, Lamb with tapenade with runner bean and radish salad. A delicious five starred dish, apparently, as 39 voters, unthwarted by its 43.9g of fat per serving, have scored it (a result that can’t actually be used to infer anything statistically significant in real terms yet).

The Sainsburys on Queens Rd has capers at 99p and while all three shops sell different brands of the delicious berry, the Tesco one is not better than Waitrose. My suggestion is to avoid any capers that cost more than £2 for a small sized jar.