Please bear with me—I’m trying desperately to maintain my vacation glow, and any demands, any demands at all, will restore me to my original pale, matte finish.
In the interim, you can find me over at Culinate this week with an article on ground cherries (aka husk tomatoes, aka dwarf Cape gooseberries, not to be confused with tomatillos). If you’ve ever seen them at the farmer's market and wondered what the heck those weirdo fruits are and what to do with them, now’s your chance to find out. There’s also a recipe for a sweet and spicy relish to serve over grilled fish. You know, if you like delicious things.
Now go away. Shoo!!
They (ground cherries) were mentioned a few times in the Little House on the Prairie books when I was reading to my daughter this winter and I wondered what the heck they were. Ma made ground cherry preserves with them. Then, I saw seed for sale in one of my seed catalogs. So I ordered it and grew a lot of ground cherries. I didn't know how they grew and planted them way too close together and they all fell over, but produced hundreds (or more?). I've given up harvesting them now, but I made jam from them (great on biscuits), dried them to put on winter salads and we ate a lot of them fresh too. Thanks for the post.
Posted by: Molly | September 01, 2010 at 08:58 PM
Molly: I think drying them is a great idea. The 2nd Grader was doing an experiment on one of them and left it out on the window sill for a few days. I didn't actually taste it before I threw it away, but it sure smelled delicious!
Adrienne, Melch, Heather: Thanks for your comments on the Culinate site!
Posted by: Tammy | September 01, 2010 at 09:32 PM
You are a bringer of knowledge, Tammy Donroe! We have those things serpentining all over our garden and we had no idea what they heck they were. I was ready to yank them up as a yellow-flowering weed last week when I finally saw what I assumed was a tomatillo. But now we know better.
On to Culinate, then!
Posted by: Fish Sauce Hater | September 02, 2010 at 11:50 PM