Dear Ground Cherries,
what do I do with you?
Well, they're cute...but besides that I had absolutely no idea what these things were when they came in from the fields. So in case some of you are wondering as well, here I am with some info.
If you don't recognize the name ground cherry, maybe you know them by one of their other names: cape gooseberries, husk cherries, or poha (I don't know ... I will assume that poha is its native american name...). Although these little guys are often referred to as cape gooseberries, don't be fooled.. they are not related to regular gooseberries.
They are small (about marble sized) and come in a husk, which you have to remove before eating. The husk is papery and lantern-looking, just like the tomatillos you recived earlier in the season. They taste... interesting. I've been trying to figure out a way to describe it but I think I'll steal a quote I found from an article in the LA Times instead - "They look like tomatillos but are sweet and tart at the same time -- the crunchiness of a tomato with the sweetness of a cherry. The very yellow ones are the sweetest." - Gina Thomas , Wattles Farm, CA.
The few that I tried were still green-pale yellow and were pretty tart, so I think that ours still need to ripen up. Hang on to them for a bit, leave them in their husks on the counter for a while and they should shift to darker yellow-orange.
Once they are ripe some common uses include:
If you try something with them, please let me know how it turns out!!
-B
what do I do with you?
 |
| Bishop's Ground Cherries |
Well, they're cute...but besides that I had absolutely no idea what these things were when they came in from the fields. So in case some of you are wondering as well, here I am with some info.
If you don't recognize the name ground cherry, maybe you know them by one of their other names: cape gooseberries, husk cherries, or poha (I don't know ... I will assume that poha is its native american name...). Although these little guys are often referred to as cape gooseberries, don't be fooled.. they are not related to regular gooseberries.
They are small (about marble sized) and come in a husk, which you have to remove before eating. The husk is papery and lantern-looking, just like the tomatillos you recived earlier in the season. They taste... interesting. I've been trying to figure out a way to describe it but I think I'll steal a quote I found from an article in the LA Times instead - "They look like tomatillos but are sweet and tart at the same time -- the crunchiness of a tomato with the sweetness of a cherry. The very yellow ones are the sweetest." - Gina Thomas , Wattles Farm, CA.
The few that I tried were still green-pale yellow and were pretty tart, so I think that ours still need to ripen up. Hang on to them for a bit, leave them in their husks on the counter for a while and they should shift to darker yellow-orange.
Once they are ripe some common uses include:
- Salsa (Recipe at the bottom)
- On top of cereal
- Great to add into pies or jams (because they have high pectin content)
- When they are ripe they fall to the ground, hence the name ground cherry.
- Left in their husk, they will keep for a long time... like I'm talkin' a few months.
- In a lot of research I found that the fruit is decribed as a combination of pineapple and vanilla.... again, I think you will need to let our ripen up for a while to reach it's full sweetness
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| More Bishop's Ground Cherries .. the green one in the top right corner is clearly not ready, if you have any green ones like that I really suggest you wait until a while before eating them! |
Ground Cherry Salsa Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pint of Ground Cherries, each one halved
- 1/4 Red Onion, diced
- 1/4 jalapeno, diced
- Cilantro, chopped
- Red Bell Pepper, diced
- Very *small* squeeze Lime Juice
- Roughly a teaspoon or two Extra Virgin Olive oil
- Very *small* pinch Salt
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| Ground Cherry Salsa - from http://catertots.net |
If you try something with them, please let me know how it turns out!!
-B
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