Ground Cherry Recipe?

[FruitAddict]

My Great Grandmother had Ground Cherries in her garden so I had to have some seeds... now they come up every year on their owna and I usually get way more than I know what to do with them... The only thing I know to do with them is to make a Custard Pie with them in them. Its yummy but can only tolerate 1 or 2 of those pies a year so what should I do with the rest?

[Ozark Lady]

I had to google, ground cherry. It seems to be a tiny tomato. So why not just use them like tomatoes?

[FruitAddict]

They do remind me of tiny tomatoes but the flavor is much much different - it almost reminds me of Cantalope flavor with a hint of cherry. They are small (a little larger than a dime around) yellow fruits that form inside a husk and are ripe when they fall off the plant. I tend to pick mine off the ground - leave them in the husk and put them in the basement for use later they store for up to 3 or 4 months like that - when I am ready to use them I take the husk off and wash and use.

Hardly anyone around here (Oshkosh WI) know what they are - My great grandmother said her grandparents brought them over from Germany with them.

I was just hoping someone had some interesting ideas what to do with them. I've made Jelly with them but it wasn't very interesting and the pies and thats about it.

This is one of those plants I just don't want to give up because of the sentimental value.

[Ozark Lady]

If you end up with extra seeds, I would love to try them.

Have you ever had tomato cobbler? My grandmother made it alot, and her parent, not sure if it was her mom or her dad, came from Germany, the other one was from Ireland... quite a combo. But, she made cobblers out of tomatoes. I wonder if they used the tomatoes, in place of the ground cherries that they would have known in Germany?

[FruitAddict]

I'd be happy to share some seeds with you... email me your address and I'll send some out via snail mail this fall.

PM me for my email or your detials and I will share seeds with anyone who wants them - each little ground cherry has to have at least a hundred seeds in each one of them.

[thanrose]

Ground cherries are Physalis spp. Two members of that genus are tomatillos and Chinese lanterns. Loads of slightly different ground cherries are native all over the world, but heavily in the Americas.

In Hawaii, they use a ground cherry called poha, I believe. It's used in jams.

You can make a salsa or a chutney with them, you could cook them with roasted fowl, and I suspect you could make a fruit leather with them.

I've ID'd four different Physalis spp. near me, not including tomatillos and chinese lanterns. All of mine have yellow or orange fruits when mature, but flavors are similar. One is actually called Slimy groundcherry, and the fruits as well as the leaves feel tacky or oily.

I've tossed them in salads or quick salsas. They don't replace either tomatoes or tomatillos, but are different, like mango or peach salsas. Down here, the skins are tougher I think than up north. I didn't care for that texture when roasting meats, but the flavor was nice. I might shred them if I try it again.

I've never had enough at one time to try winemaking with them. I could see using them in a ratatouille.

[Gone_Tropical]

I like them halved in fruit salads... except I don't seem to be able to grow them

[thanrose]

GT, my focus is on wild or native plants. Recommend gross neglect to grow any ground cherries I have seen here, but that may not be good advice for purchased plants or seeds.

[lorax]

GT, I'll send you some Uvilla (P. peruviana) seeds - they're better adapted for your conditions. After that? Gross neglect, just like Than says.

FruitAddict - I'm very fond of them as a base fruit for Daiquiris, either alone or with blackberry.

[Gone_Tropical]

that would be awesome lorax, but do I have something I can send you in return?

[lorax]

You can surprise me, lol!

[alenshowbrizz]

I just tried to eat my garden tomato recipes last night It was made very nice, I had tomato before 1 month in my garden with some different vegetable also I had included, When all the vegetable was properly grown I think Should I have to take it. and I used all the vegetable with salad recipes.