It’s always great to discover you can grow something in your climate that you didn’t think was possible before. This is true of ground cherries for me. Until this spring, they were a mystery to me, relegated to northern climates, or so I thought. Then a friend sent seeds from Canada and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see how they would do in a completely different latitude.
Ground cherries, otherwise known as Physalis, are in the nightshade family and are most like the tomatillo. They flower and fruit the same way, but the result is a smaller fruit tucked inside that papery lantern-shaped sheath. The flavor is tomato-like, crossed with pineapple and mango or peach. It’s hard to describe. You just have to try it and judge for yourself.
Ground cherries grow in a shrub-like shape and flower like tiny tomatillos
We started seeds indoors in early spring and planted out in a stone urn for the season. The plants took off with regular watering (every other day in our dry weather) and occasional fertilizing with compost and compost tea. Soon we had flowers and fruit…
Lanterns appear and fruit develops inside. Pods turn brown/cream as they mature.
Watering needs increased as the weather warmed. Our stone pot dried out the soil more quickly than growing in the ground would have done. We had to read up to know when to harvest. Basically, they’re called ground cherries for a reason – let them fall to the ground, then pick them up and put them in a bowl to finish ripening indoors. That’s it!
Ground cherries drop to the ground when ready to pick. Easy peasy.
The cherries will still be a little green when they fall, so leaving them in a bowl for a few days (or about a week) will give them a chance to turn yellow.
Remove the papery sheath and store in the fridge until ready to use.
Now to figure out how to best utilize their unusual combination of flavors. Suggestions ranged from making green salsa to smashing them over vanilla ice cream. We tried the latter and found it delicious. Vanilla blended wonderfully with the tropical fruit elements. Here are some other ideas to try:
Ground Cherry Pineapple Crumble
Every few days we pick through the bowl on the counter to find more ripe ground cherries. Every day we pick more fallen fruits off the ground outside. It’s a new ritual we never thought we’d experience. If you have the chance to experiment, try growing ground cherries in your own garden next spring. They provide a delightful surprise all summer long.
Tiny tomatillo-like fruits are oddly sweet and savory at the same time.
My ground cherries flower out, but fall off before they produce fruit. What am I doing wrong?
There are a couple reasons why that might be happening. Since ground cherries are self-pollinating, we can rule out a pollination problem. I’ve read that dry conditions can cause flowers to drop before setting fruit. They need about an inch of water per week. Probably more if in containers. I watered my containers every few days and the ground cherries were very happy. If you are keeping them well watered, then it might be a phosphorus and potassium deficiency, which are both responsible for fruiting and flowering. You might try adding a little organic veggie fertilizer or watering with kelp emulsion.
Once you grow ground cherries you will not need to save seeds. Or at least that is my experience. They just come up the next year from seed that has fallen. Of course, you have to be able to recognize the little plant so that you don’t pull them out as weeds. I find they will grow more upright if they are within a low fence. Otherwise they have a tendency to spread out low to the ground.
LOL, John, you’re absolutely right! I have ground cherries popping up all over the place, and the seeds made it through the cold composting process too. Now they are germinating in my raised beds, far away from where they originally grew.
Chipmunks really like ground cherries. We find very few on the ground that still have the cherry inside. As a result we primarily pick ground cherries with slightly yellow husks off the plant and let them finish ripening inside. Green cherries generally will not ripen.
Our squirrels never discovered our fallen ground cherries, but I imagine it’s only a matter of time. We found it took a long time for the green cherries to ripen (you’re right, some didn’t ripen at all). Those that had a tinge of yellow did ripen over several weeks, maybe a month. Has anyone tried the ethane gas trick for these? The old banana in a paper bag trick? I wonder if it would speed things up.
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Where can a guy find seeds for ground cherry, or do you have to know someone from Canada? These sound pretty great! Do you have any resources for how to save seed once you grow some?
Hi Dave,
You can find seeds from companies like Seed Savers Exchange and High Mowing Seed Company. We grew Aunt Molly’s but there are others out there. We haven’t tried saving seeds, but we imagine that since it’s in the same family as tomatoes and tomatillos, we would use the same process as for those.