How team members at Ishka Farms, India’s first and only caper farm in Tamil Nadu, found themselves experimenting with the ingredient—on the field and back in their home kitchens.
Every morning at 8am, Ponnuthai and Koppamal travel about 23 kilometres to arrive at Ishka Farms from their hometown of Ettayapuram. Based in Niravi Pudhupatti, a village about 45 kilometres from Tuticorin, Ishka Farms—founded in 2012 by Fiona Arakal and Srikant Suryanarayan—is India’s first and only caper farm.
When I spoke to Ponnuthai and Koppamal over the phone on a rainy day last December, I learnt that they had both started working at Ishka Farms eight years ago. Before they began to cultivate capers, they used to plant local crops like brinjal, chilli, onion, cotton, black gram, and green gram on their own farms. This process of sowing the seeds was fairly straightforward yet entirely different from the one employed to grow capers. “We were seeding cotton,” they say. “And for capers, we directly put the plants [into the soil].” When asked how this shift felt, they responded with an inexplicable “just different!”
Farming in India is no easy task. If a patch of barren land and harsh weather aren’t challenging enough, growing a non-native crop in such conditions is like stepping into new terrain—quite literally. At The Locavore, we typically focus on native produce, but Ishka Farms’ innovative efforts to grow capers have inspired us to expand our horizons and, of course, our palates.
When asked how this shift felt, they responded with an inexplicable “just different!”
When Fiona and Srikant acquired the barren land, they were unsure of how best to utilise it. In our conversations with Fiona, we learned about their inclination to grow a crop that would help conserve groundwater, reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, and withstand southern Tamil Nadu’s scorching heat.
In 2013, Srikant met with Pablo Rico Sebastian, an agricultural entrepreneur from Argentina—at a conference for young business leaders in Saint Petersburg—who urged him to consider growing capers as a commercial crop. Srikant travelled to Argentina, Mexico, and the Italian island of Pantelleria to learn more about capers, which are native to African, Middle Eastern, and Mediterranean regions. Ishka Farms first imported caper saplings from South America in 2015. Fiona tells us that cultivating capers on black soil was a big experiment for them because the soil cracks in the dry summer heat and retains water during the monsoon, which can cause the crop roots to rot. Figuring out how to plant capers in this soil involved multiple rounds of trial and error, especially since nobody in India had attempted it before.
Since the percentage of seed germination is very poor, Ishka Farms propagate caper plants through tissue culture, which involves growing saplings from mother plants in a laboratory. Field workers like Ponnuthai and Koppamal transplant these saplings into trays in the nursery, and then plant them on raised beds rather than directly into the ground in order to adapt to the unique soil. Additionally, their many duties involve caper harvesting, weeding, the application of manure directly to the base of a plant (or drenching), and drip irrigation.
Ponnuthai and Koppamal first heard of capers only after starting to work with Ishka Farms. But in eight long years of planting caper saplings, pruning caper plants, and harvesting caper berries, they have found themselves experimenting with the ingredient back in their home kitchens. They add caper berries to Kuzhambu, a tamarind-based curry from Tamil Nadu, or sprinkle caper salt over omelettes for a salty, tangy kick.
The caper bush grows up to six feet high and lives for decades. Throughout its growing season, which, in India, is from March to October, the plant bears flowers and fruits. “During the harvest season, right before we pluck the flowers, the farm looks very good,” they tell me.
This transformation—from barren land to a caper-filled farm—wasn’t without its challenges. Over the years, Ishka Farms has worked with experts to take great care of the arid soil, and experimented with scientific methods to grow capers. They also envision that the local farmers will eventually start growing and selling capers on their own farms, which, in turn, will impact the region’s landscape and its water-use patterns. “When Ishka Farms is able to demonstrate the long-term viability of the cultivation of high-quality capers along with the development of value-added products within the farming ecosystem, it will automatically be welcomed by the locals,” says Fiona.
[Ishka Farms] also envision that the local farmers will eventually start growing and selling capers on their own farms, which, in turn, will impact the region’s landscape and its water-use patterns.
Providing a dependable source of livelihood to the local community was equally crucial. According to Fiona, one of the aspirational milestones for them is tipping the scales in favour of employing local women. Currently, they offer year-round employment to women in the fields as well as their on-site factory.
Ramya Rohini—who heads product quality checking and laboratory at Ishka Farms—much like Ponnuthai and Koppamal, wasn’t familiar with capers before her work with the organisation. In the six years she has since spent at Ishka Farms, she has dedicated herself to conducting experiments on caper plants, leaves, and berries. These include various drying techniques, and trying different brine solutions—based on acidity and salinity—for capers.
Ramya tells me that the staff always egg her on to pursue her ideas, even if they require multiple rounds of trial and error. Her experiments with caper leaves, something that she is particularly proud of, resulted in Ishka Farms’ Organic Caper Leaves in Brine.
Every year, the organisation takes on one goal to work towards. In 2025, Ishka Farms intends to standardise the curing of caper stems with their leaves and capers intact, making the entire caper stem tip edible.
In 2024, Ishka Farms partnered with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research in Kochi to conduct scientific tests on caper buds, stems, roots, and leaves. They found that caper leaves have a high concentration of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that might have clinical benefits, and are currently working on defending their patent application for the process of extracting them. Typically, capers, once pruned, leave behind a lot of waste, including leaves that are unfit for food consumption, but producing this extract, in partnership with the pharmaceutical industry, will help Ishka Farms establish itself as a truly green, zero-waste farm.
Yashvi Shah is the Partnerships Copywriter at The Locavore. In her free time, she likes creating playlists for her friends, and going on runs.
Our thanks to Suresh Maharajan and Srikant Suryanarayan who helped translate some of the conversations in this feature from Tamil to English.
To read more about Ishka Farms and their practices and efforts, check out our producer page here. This is a paid partnership with Ishka Farms. We strive to keep the practices of a producer transparent and honest across all forms of partnerships.
