the.com/groundcherry
a tomato's tiny cousin gift-wrapped in its own paper lantern and dropped at your feet.
means A small, sweet, golden fruit in the nightshade family, enclosed in a papery husk and borne low on a sprawling plant, eaten fresh or in jams and pies.
from A plain English compound of "ground" plus "cherry": the "ground" because the husked fruits ripen low and tumble to the earth when ready, and "cherry" for their small, round, cherry-like size — though botanically they're kin to tomatoes and tomatillos, not true cherries, in the genus Physalis (from the Greek "physa," a bladder or bellows, a nod to that inflated paper husk). The name belongs to a family of homely American descriptive labels — husk cherry, husk tomato, strawberry tomato, cape gooseberry — each settler-coiner reaching for a familiar fruit to pin on an unfamiliar one.
- flavor
- tastes like pineapple, mango, and tomato had a baby
- self-harvest
- ripe fruit drops to the ground intentionally
- husk
- papery lantern protects it from pests and rot
- family ties
- a nightshade, cousin to tomatillo and tomato
- shelf life
- keeps for months still wrapped in husk
physalis peruviana — golden berry species native to south america, commercially grown in colombia and ecuador
physalis philadelphica — tomatillo species used in mexican salsa verde, larger fruit than other groundcherries
physalis angulata — cutleaf groundcherry found across tropical regions, used in traditional medicine in west africa