Capers from Sicily

Whenever someone offers to bring me back something from Paris, I hand them the card of Izrael, the épicerie (spice shop) in the Marais not far from the St.-Paul Metro stop. Forget Fauchon; this funky, crowded spice shop is the place some of Paris’ best chefs go for their piment d’espelette (powdered espelette pepper from the Basque country), fleur de sel (250-gram packages with a  label trimmed in lavender), herb-infused vinegar, lavender honey and stony green lentils from Puy. I always stock up on fleur de sel and hand-picked, salted capers from Pantelleria, an island off the coast of Sicily.

Imagine my surprise then when I was poking around the website of Formaggio Kitchen, a cheese and spice purveyor in Boston, and came across 1-kilo (2.2-pound) bags of Capp’Aris capers from Pantelleria for $17.95, about what I remember paying in Paris. Ground shipping from Formaggio Kitchen starts, however, at around $10, so it’s worth your while to see what else you can order on the site. When I clicked on "salts," I found that they had the very same fleur de sel de Guérande -- Le Paludier brand -- I used to carry home from Paris too. The prized salt is from Brittany and it’s $14.95 for 250 grams, which is a little over half a pound. That’s what some stores charge for a tiny jar. Use it as a finishing salt, sprinkled on top of a dish.

For cooking and the pasta pot, I also added some sel gris (gray sea salt) from Brittany to my shopping cart. It’s called Sel de Noirmoutier and costs $5.95 for a kilo. Last but not least, Formaggio Kitchen sells Flour Tipo “00” from Mulino Marino in Italy, which is what you need to make egg pasta and pizza dough. However, it’s currently out of stock. No problem, they’ll send you an e-mail when they get it back in.

Formaggio Kitchen, 244 Huron Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138; (888) 212-3224. Izrael, L’Epicerie du Monde, 30 rue Francois Miron, Paris 75004; 011-33-1-4272-6623.

-- S. Irene Virbila

Photo by S. Irene Virbila