Gardeners, these are such a fun little fruit to add to your garden. They are sweet! (think pineapple and lemon combined) – and kids will love peeling back the papery outer lantern to find the sweet little skittle-sized fruit inside. Plus, they commonly re-seed themselves, so if you are lucky, plant once and have them forever!
Ground cherries are a relative of the tomatillo and grow on a bushy green annual plant that will produce dozens if not hundreds of little fruits in papery husks.
I’m not certain, but I believe they are called ground cherries because the as the green pod ripens and dries to a light brown, the cherry falls to the ground – answering the common question, “how do you know when they are ripe?”
Once they fall to the ground, they remain protected and in good condition for quite a while, so don’t feel like you have to stay on top of the harvest with these little gems.
I order my seeds from Baker Creek Seed Company or from Seed Needs. Both are organic and non-GMO. To plant them, simply follow the instructions in my How to Start Seeds post. But here’s a recap. Fill your seed tray 3/4 full of potting mix and wet it completely. Place one or two seeds on top and sprinkle with 1/4 inch of potting mix. Spray lightly with water until the soil is wet through, encasing the seed in wet soil. Then place your tray on a seed heat mat or in a warm place for 3-7 days and keep moist until the seeds germinate and pop up out of the soil. Then place them in the sun and make sure they don’t dry out. Watch them grow!
When they are about an inch or two tall and the weather is consistently frost free in your area, transplant the seedlings outdoors to a raised bed or an area of your yard where you have prepared the soil for growing vegetables.
Now, be patient. Ground cherries won’t take off like a rocket like some other plants in your garden. They grow slowly at first and tend to spread out like a poorly behaved shrub. They also looks a lot like a common weed throughout their life cycle, so make sure you label them!
And then suddenly, there they are. Gently lift a branch of the plant and the underside will be covered in little green husks that resemble paper lanterns.
They will start to ripen and drop to the ground a few at time, speeding up as the season progresses. Because you will undoubtedly miss a few, the seeds of dropped fruit will wind up in the soil and create the perfect situation for them to come back in the spring all by themselves!
They are so sweet and tart – a great addition to yogurt, fruit salad, or this fun little cocktail that will wow your friends: Cape Gooseberry and Thai Lime Basil Margaritas!
