Ground cherries

[Lindsaylew82]

What are your thoughts on ground cherries? Are they wonderful? Are they a good cherry substitute. I could plant some dwarf trees, but I tend to neglect the fruit trees I already have. I keep looking at the ground cherries in my catalogs, but I never buy them.
Do you grow them?
Do you love them?
What kind do you grow?

[evtubbergh]

Are ground cherries gooseberries? If so then they are both round fruit but that is where the similarities end. They are tart, don't have stones and are better cooked than raw but they are awesome and you should definitely plant some! Use them in jam, cooked fruit and pies.

[Lindsaylew82]

I believe they are in the same family as tomatillo and tomato. I think I saw them listed in one catalog as cape gooseberry. I don't believe they are related to true gooseberries though. I'd have to check on that.

I know that Chinese Lanterns are a cultivar of ground cherry, and I could work that into some of my edible landscaping ideas!

[!potatoes!]

o boy did you ask in the right place

ground cherries:

I love them, but I wouldn't call them a good substitute for a cherry, they're very different beasts.

I'm enamored enough with the whole genus Physalis that I'm collecting species and attempting interspecific crosses with them. at present I've got the annual 'husk tomato', P. pruinosa; the one you mention 'cape gooseberry'/'golden berry'/'incaberry', P. peruviana, which is a tender perennial and dies completely in at least zone 7; the native-to-my-area hardy perennial clammy ground cherry; a couple other perennial ones, species unknown; and of course the tomatillo, P. philadephica/ixocarpa (yup - same genus). then also some potential crosses, too young to know.

no, they're not related to true gooseberries.

the pruinosa has a sweet butterscotchy/pineapple taste when dead-ripe...really nice dried, too, like a good raisin with crispy bits from all the little seeds. I've seen them used in baking, but they get kind of insipid that way, and are much better fresh. if not picked (read: picked off the ground, as that's where they go when they get ripe) religiously they can have a tendency to self-seed and show up the following year in inconvenient places where they for some reason always grow bigger and healthier and more productive than any intentionally planted ones.

the cape gooseberry has more of a citrusy sour-and-sweet thing with a hint of maybe coconut. since the cape gooseberry takes a bit of time to get going I tend to keep them potted in their first year, protect them through the winter (basement when below freezing), and plant them out when they take off their second spring. much better results that way.

the clammy ground cherry has a kind of vaguely tropical sweet apple taste. a handful of these three tastes like a pina colata.
here's a pic of some of each of those three's fruit (clockwise from top left; husk tomato, cape gooseberry, clammy ground cherry):

and an experimental yacon/husk tomato polyculture I tried last year (flowering sunchokes in the background aren't in the same bed):



not that it matters much to the casual consider-er , but the cape gooseberry is a tetraploid, and as far as I know, most if not all of the other species (of which there are quite a few) are diploid. so cape gooseberry shouldn't cross easily with the others, but there may be real possibility of crosses between the others, most of which are geographically distinct in the wild.

I guess that's enough for now...

[Lindsaylew82]

WOW!!! Thank you for that reply! Now I'm even MORE excited and curious.

(Aaaaaaaand maybe we should talk more this winter! )

Your favorite?

[!potatoes!]

oh yeah, and chinese lantern are among the least edible of the lot. the very ripe fruit are passable but not exciting. bears mentioning that almost all of these (except probably the tomatillo?) if eaten when not ripe can bother some folk's stomachs from the solanine. but as far as I know all in the genus are edible when ripe enough that the husk dries and they fall from the plant (unless they fall early)...

okay, I've been parenthetical enough.

and they're all my favorite, until my breeding attempts start paying off.

but I will almost definitely have various seed in the wintertime.

[Lindsaylew82]

(Parenthetical is my favorite!)

[Lindsaylew82]

They (finally) sprouted! And they're just kind of hanging out ! 2 of the 12 seedlings sprouted the first of their true leaves but they are so slooooooooooooooooooooooow! Are you finding this to be the norm with starting them in cells?

Took 20 days for them to sprout. I'd given up on them and was about to shove some melon seed in the cells when I saw a tiny little shoulder poking through!

Went with P. Pruinosa!

And thanks again!

[!potatoes!]

I've had some of the wild species take a month and a half to germinate. I usually start them all ~6 weeks before last frost with other warm-weather stuff like peppers.

patience, they'll get moving.

[Lindsaylew82]

I'm OVERLY EXCITED about these!!! Patience proves difficult these days... Ha! I want to blame all the excitement on having something for Big Kid to really enjoy, but My inner kid is seriously chomping at the bit!

You thin them to 1 per cell?

Do you stake them?

[Lindsaylew82]

[!potatoes!]

no, I don't thin them - I separate them at planting-out time.

I'm finally getting germination of some of the wild species now - 2.5 months from sowing.

[Lindsaylew82]

Wow! That's a loooooong time!

I think I'm going to try the perennial ones this fall. I'm looking for a more dedicated spot!

[applestar]

o boy did you ask in the right place

ground cherries:

[…]

I'm enamored enough with the whole genus Physalis that I'm collecting species and attempting interspecific crosses with them. at present I've got the annual 'husk tomato', P. pruinosa; the one you mention 'cape gooseberry'/'golden berry'/'incaberry', P. peruviana, which is a tender perennial and dies completely in at least zone 7; the native-to-my-area hardy perennial clammy ground cherry; a couple other perennial ones, species unknown; and of course the tomatillo, P. philadephica/ixocarpa (yup - same genus). then also some potential crosses, too young to know.
[…]

Sooo, !potatoes!, I hope this catches your eye.

Do you know the answer to this question?

…Physalis Angulata 3-4 meter away
I have no idea if they can crosspollinate with Tomatillo Icocarpa?

[!potatoes!]

intriguing! as far as I know P. ixocarpa doesn’t readily cross with the other smaller-fruited ground cherries, but they have the same number of chromosomes, so it could to possible …I’m a little confused by some of your post, though. queen of malinalco and purple tomatillo are both P. ixocarpa varieties, and should cross just fine…where does P. angulata fit into the picture?

[applestar]

I asked my friend who gave me the seeds for Queen of Malinalco if she also had Purple Tomatillo growing nearby, and she said she didn’t but had the P. angulata in the garden. She shared these photos —

… she has since then remembered that the two Queen of Malinalco she had grown seemed to mature at different rates — one was much slower than the other — and that one had shinier leaf than the other… so maybe ONE of hers was already crossed. She said she blended the seeds from the two plants because she though the difference was just variation. If that was the case, my oddball could already be at F2.

[!potatoes!]

that is interesting. will be interested in hearing results from your taste- testing!