Ground-Cherry Pie
You can forage or grow the fixin's for this almost-forgotten ground cherry treat from grandmother's day; includes info on growing and preparing ground cherries.
You can forage (or grow) the fixin's for this
almost forgotten treat from Grandmother's
day:
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When I serve ground-cherry pie to my guests, the very few
people who have ever tasted the treat before usually react
with remarks like, "Oh, I remember when my grandmother used
to make this" . . . or, "My great-aunt baked these for
special occasions!" However, most folks have never heard
of—much less tasted—this delicious fruit . . .
and that always astounds me, because groundcherries have
been included in our family gardens for at least four
generations!
GROWING WILD
As a matter of fact, it isn't even necessary to
cultivate ground cherries, since they're commonly
found in fields, along roadsides, and in open woods and
waste-lands in every part of the United States except
Alaska. (Not long ago I discovered a patch of the wild
fruit on a grassy embankment just two blocks from my
Minnesota home.)
These fast-growing species of the genus Physalis
are also known as husk tomatoes, tomatilloes, strawberry
tomatoes, bladder cherries, and poppers (the Chinese
Lantern is a popular, nonedable ornamental variety), and
they belong to the Solanaceae family, which includes
tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, tobacco, and nightshade.
The plants, while widespread, are usually not very abundant
in the wild, so to assure a big harvest, it's best
to cultivate them from seed . . . which can be ordered from
L.L. Olds Seed Company, Dept. TMEN, P.O. Box 7790, Madison,
Wisconsin 53707 (50¢ per package, and the firm's
catalog is free) or De Giorgi Company, Inc., Dept. TMEN,
P.O. Box 413, Council Bluffs, Iowa 51502 (40¢ per
package, and the catalog is 66¢) .
Expect this garden crop—which prefers medium-dry
soil—to sprout early and grow rapidly. It quickly
puts out yellow flowers with brown or purple centers, and
will continue to bloom and bear until the first frost.
Around July, the fruit (which develops in a husk) will
begin to drop to the ground and—even though it's not
fully ripe when it does so—you should gather the
cherries as they fall, since they're favorites of many
animals and birds.
