Ground Cherries, anyone?

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by berryman

At dinner parties I have dipped each berry with the husk pulled back in a loose ganache and they are super elegant and tasty.

That's a great idea! I'm gong to have to try that. These little jewels are so good. A big no-no for anyone suffering from diverticulitis but wonderful for the rest of us!

The first time I grew them was an 'Aunt Mary's' two years ago. Last year I did a 'Pineapple' but didn't see any real difference in plant habit or berry flavor. They do well in buckets or in the ground. Give them lateral elbow room. I think I used a 7 gallon for this one.



This was Pineapple last May and it didn't get a lot taller but it sure got a whole lot wider. Had to put some cardboard under it to keep the cherries from falling through the pallet slats!

In '16 I tried to find ground cherry recipes but they were few and far between. Found a few jam recipes so I made a few half pints of that. Very tasty stuff but as the jam cooled a thick layer of seeds floated to the top. You can scrape them off when the jar is opened.



Last summer I wanted to play with the recipe and somehow try filtering out the very tiny seeds to make jelly, not jam but I never got a round to it. Since then I've read that ground cherries are so thick with natural pectin that you don't need to use any Sure-Jel or equivalent. Since I did add some in that first batch, this explains why it was so very, ummm, *thick* bordering on rubbery! No more pectin.