Ground Cherry (Physalis pruinosa )

[Durgan]

25 July 2011 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly's Ground Cherry) 25 July 2011 Physalis pruinosa (Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry)

A ground cherry plant will produce probably a six quart basket or more in a good year. I have two plants and picked a few cherries today. The fruit falls off the plant when ripe, and apparently it ripens a bit more laying on the ground. The fruit has a pleasant taste and if cooked lightly tastes almost exactly like stewed peaches. I usually eat the fruit raw. The plant needs a long season and needs plenty of Sun for maximum production. Any green shown on the fruit indicates unripe fruit and the taste is sort of tart and unpleasant. The green also indicates solanine, which should be avoided, the green on potato tubers. The membrane covering the fruit is seen on several plants like the Chinese Lantern, which is edible, but the fruit must be very ripe.

[Darlene]

How neat those are, I've never seen them before. Love the little protective covering and how they fall when ripe. Do the coverings fool the birds as to what lies within?

[Durgan]

How neat those are, I've never seen them before. Love the little protective covering and how they fall when ripe. Do the coverings fool the birds as to what lies within?

Never had the birds touch the fruit. The Physalis pruninosa have been grown the last five years with various degrees of success. One year there was a bumper crop, but the other four were so so.