Ground Cherries

Anybody raise these? I have 5 plants and they are all loaded. This is my first year with them. Anyone have any recipies to use them up? I would think they would make some tasty jam.

This is my first year growing them too and I was really surprised how big and productive one plant could be. I have a hard time looking to see if they're ripe; it feels like the branches could break easily if I do too much digging around. I have found a couple ripe ones though and they are really sweet and good. I'm sure you could make jam/jelly out of them.

They are really good in salsa. I have added to pasta dishes, when I only had a few available. I guess I should go look at mine, maybe I have some ready. Mine moved themselves to the chicken yard- and the chickens don't eat them!

I'm on my second year planting them. If I can't figure out an easier way to harvest I won't plant them again.

Hello- this is my first year planting them... but I did look for background info on harvesting them beforehand. The most interesting method I found was that some people will pull up the whole plant and let it dry out upside down. When the pod papers go dry the ground cherry is ready to use. I also read that some people harvest them once they drop to the ground (hence the name ground cherries.) So far I have not used them in anything, but I have an embarrassing habit of hovering over the plant and eating them when I should be doing other things. I have eaten the ones that have dropped to the ground and they seemed a lot tastier than the ones picked from the vine... My chickens won't eat them unless I husk them, but they will fight over them once husked.
One other thing I read said that you should make sure you like where you planted them, because they will insist on volunteering the next year.:tools

Sorry to be so dense, but is a ground cherry the same thing as a tomatillo? :/

Well all of the gazillion plants I have this year were ALL volunteers. I cant imagine what will happen next year. I managed to pull give away and transplant a ton.

I like to snack on them in the garden as well. My turkeys love them and will eat anything I throw over the fence.

I did pull one whole plant and dry it this year. The berries just did not turn that beautiful golden color like they do naturally. The turkeys got the whole shebang.

For my limited space the plants and difficulty I have harvesting just don't seem to be worth it.

g

I have grown them in the past. We always harvested them after they fall to the ground. They are great in pies, I have seen people pay $70 -80 for a pie at a benefit auction. My DW has also made muffins and put them in instead of blueberries - yummy. As some have said also be prepared for many to emerge next year. Each berry has many seeds. If you like them all you have to do next year is wait for them to germinate.

So apparently they aren't tomatillos..ha!

Huh, I thought they were the same thing....