"Ground cherries" or "Husk Tomatoes"

QSis

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
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I'm not sure what category these things fall into, so I stuck this post in "Gardening".

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...es&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G&ei=7iqZSuikBcrDtwfomoTHBA

I just had these little babies for the first time at a friend's house last weekend. She'd grown them in her garden, and she called them "husk tomatoes" (which I believe is also a name for tomatillos).

Anyway, she had them in a bowl along with her wonderful orange cherry tomatoes ("Sun Glory" variety?). The husks are about the size of a small Japanese lantern, tan in color. The berry (?) is a light yellow-ish green (though the ones in the photo look more orange than Jan's did) and the flavor is different and delightful. Sweet, with a little tartness.

I was enchanted, and will try to find a plant for one of my containers next year. Probably have to get one from Jan.

Has anyone had experience with ground cherries? Seems that someone, maybe Chowhound or Jeekins, posted a photo of something like this awhile back, and I told him they were Japanese lanterns. Maybe they were these?

Lee
 
It doesn't ring a bell with me, but I vaguely remember someone posting pics of those.
Those are interesting looking. I wouldn't even think there was anything edible inside the husk.
 
Here's the picture I took at my friends' house. The husk tomatoes are in bowl with the orange Sun Glory cherries.



The fruit of the husk tomato is nowhere near as large as those little cherry tomatoes, and it's kinda lime green.

Damn, I loved those things! LOL!

Lee
 
Hmm, I think I've seen those around!
And one website I found said the UNRIPE berries are poisonous....
Still gonna look for them!
 
Those are tomatillos. They are easy to grow and are used a lot in Mexican cooking. They are the primary ingredient in green salsa and chili verde. I've never heard that the unripe fruit is poisonous but then why would you pick them before they are ripe?

I grow them every year. The plants are fairly leggy and not as pretty as a tomato. When the husk turns brown they are ready. I have no problem finding the plants at the local nurseries but then this is SoCal.
 
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