Ground Cherries

[annageckos]

I was looking at a seed site and saw ground cherry seeds. I've heard of them before but don't know much about them. So looking a bit into them I've decided I want to try to grow ground cherries next year. They seem easy enough to grow, start the seeds inside and then plant in the spring. Anyone here ever had them? I've read the taste is pineapple-ish. Any suggestions?

 

[baymule]

Never tried them, but I bet somebody here has. Calling all ground cherry experts!!

 

[journey11]

I've grown them a couple of times, 'Aunt Molley's Ground Cherry'. They are a very easy care plant and once they get going, one plant will spread out and make hundreds of the little yellow fruits (about the size of the tip of your pinkie). DD7 loves hunting for them and peeling the papery part off. She's not so much for eating them though. They are sweet and taste good, but it is an unusual flavor. I think pineapple describes it well. They are in the Solanaceae family with tomatoes and such. You can make jam and pies with them, but I've never gotten around to that and have only eaten them plain. They reseed easily too, but are not overwhelming.

 

[annageckos]

Thanks @journey11, they sound good. Anything pineapple won't last too long around here.

 

[wsmoak]

Ground cherries are tomatillos, right? You can make salsa verde!

-Wendy

 

[journey11]

I'm not sure exactly, but they are certainly related. I've never had tomatillos. Are they sweet?

 

[annageckos]

Looks like ground cherries are Physalis peruviana while tomatillos are Physalis philadelphica. Related, but different species

 

[TheSeedObsesser]

Physalis peruviana is Cape Gooseberry, going off of memory. I think that groundcherries might be a subspecies of Physalis philadelphica - so they're very close to each other, but definitely not the same thing. They taste a lot different from each other.

I haven't grown them yet but Philagardener was kind enough to share a few seeds.

Journey, your missing out if you haven't had tomatillos. The green sauce that they make is great on just about anything (key words there "just about"). They're great producers too.

 

[annageckos]

I wasn't 100% on Physalis peruviana. I've seen ground cherries also called cape gooseberry. But I know there is another fruit called cape gooseberry, but I though it had a different latin name. Now I'm even more confused, after looking it up. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis_peruviana is the page I was looking at. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gooseberry That page (isn't the same page I was looking at earlier but close) has info on another group called gooseberries.

And now to add more, Physalis pubescens is the latin name listed on the site I bought from.

 

[journey11]

I'll have to try them then...next year.