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nafex - Re: [NAFEX] Golden Berry (aka. Cape Gooseberry)

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  • From: "Kieran and Donna" <redherring@tnaccess.com>
  • To: "North American Fruit Explorers" <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [NAFEX] Golden Berry (aka. Cape Gooseberry)
  • Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2006 14:53:57 -0500

There are many many physalis species. Some grow wild here, some will reseed
if we grow them once. Tomatillo always volunteers in our garden, but there
is a caterpillar, looks like the tomato fruitworm or corn borer, that gets
all the early fruits. I grew some Cape Gooseberry once, seems like it just
barely got in a crop of fruit before frost (Tennessee, z6). I think Molly's
ground cherry may be this species, I tried it once in a spot of bad soil and
got very little fruit, but the plant was tall and non-fuzzy like the Cape
Gooseberry. There are some non-edible physalis like the blue flowered
"shoofly plant" that showed up in a friends' garden in east TN. If you were
that fond of the jam, you should try several species and make a batch from
each one. I think you'll find that ripe tomatillos will give you a good
flavor too, there are very sweet. The smaller purplish tomatillos are
tarter and might give a darker color. I notice that Sandhill Preservation
was offering a darker purple tomatillo for a higher price than the common
purple 'Merida Market'. (I went for the cheap one.) Apart from that
wretched caterpillar and a few flea beetles bites, none of the physalis seem
to have any health problems in our garden. Donna





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