This is Why I’m Not a Gardener, Part 2

| |

Dear reader, I must apologize. I’ve mentioned our garden in passing, even hinted at its immense size in several posts. Yet, I’ve never shown you the full picture of this gargantuan suburban jungle. Well,

IMG_9019.

On the left are large bins with three kinds of heirloom melons. The vines are so long, they dangle off the deck. In fact, Peter was forced to use pantyhose to support the dangling melons (and yes, I have no idea what to make of that last sentence. The important part is, Peter has bought more pantyhose than I have.) The main garden on the right extends back about eight feet. In the front are tomatoes, such as this striped beauty of unidentified … identity.

IMG_9027

Behind the tomatoes are two of these plants:

IMG_9035

What? Those are just more vines, you say? Well … yes.  But they’re special vines.

Behold, the ground cherry:

IMG_8871

As with the arugula, I did not remember I planted this unusual veggie until one day Peter said*, “Golly, Jessie Supreme Master RD, I think your tomato plants died.”

*quotation slightly paraphrased

To my dismay, I discovered the soil underneath the plants littered with these paper-lantern lookalikes. We’ve been rained out a lot lately, so I assumed they rotted on the vine and fell to the ground in soggy despair.  It wasn’t until I gathered a few that I discovered there was a veggie inside.  I’ve since learned ground cherries are presumably called thus because they fall to the ground when ripe. Score!

Unfortunately, I planted everything in the garden too close together, which means I can’t physically reach the ground cherries that fell in the middle of the garden. I can see them, but I can’t touch them.

Haha try to reach us, you wimp!
Haha! Just try to reach us, weak-armed dietitian!

And that’s why I’m not a gardener.

Just how do these unusual vegetables taste? Very sweet, kind of like a cross between a pineapple and a cherry, but with the texture of a mini-cherry tomato.

IMG_8894

I peeled away the husk for you,

IMG_8913

and then realized I have a ground cherry sea monster on my cutting board (with snazzy sunglasses).

ground cherry

Having never used ground cherries before, I was at a loss as to what to do with my two-handfuls crop. There’s a recipe for ground cherry preserves in my Little House Cookbook that looks delicious, but I’m not a fan of preserve-making. Most recipes seem to treat ground cherries as fruit and incorporate them into pies and jams. I wanted to try something more savory.

First, I dipped a few ground cherries in melted dark chocolate, because why not. Chocolate.

IMG_8929

Can you spot the photographer?
Can you spot the photographer?

Nice.

We recently picked up a fabulous fig goat cheese that I had to use. And, of course, our mint was calling my name. And so, this ground cherry and goat cheese appetizer was born.

IMG_8957

IMG_8979

Looks a little like a tomato, no?

IMG_8971

I used a hearty oat cracker (Nairn’s) and a plethora of mint for plenty of taste in each bite. I’d be happy to serve these at any dinner party – as long as the ground cherries last!

gc cheese

Ground Cherry and Mint Goat Cheese Crackers

  Prep Time: 10 minutes

  Keywords: appetizer ground cherry mint

Ingredients (8 crackers)

  • 8 hearty crackers, e.g. Nairn’s oatcakes
  • 1/4 cup fig goat cheese
  • 1 cup ground cherries, husks removed and washed
  • 1/4 cup mint, julienned

Instructions

Spread 1/2 tablespoon goat cheese on each crackers. Arrange 6 ground cherry halves over goat cheese on each cracker, then sprinkle mint over all. Serve immediately.

Powered by Recipage

Q: Have you ever tried ground cherries? What the most unusual veggie you’ve eaten?

11 Comments

  1. This is probably the cutest garden that I have ever seen! That “ground cherry” monster looks so funny! And man, after looking at your photos, makes me want to make raw goat cheese on these babies!

    Cheers,

    Rika

  2. You are a gardener in my book! You should see the pitiful tomato plant we are trying to grow on our deck. Notice that it is a singular tomato plant. And we’re failing even at that! I have never heard of ground cherries before and I’m happy I made the discovery today. Thanks for sharing Jessie!

  3. Somehow I’ve never heard of ground cherries before. They look so pretty! I like how you presented them…very gourmet 😉

  4. I’ve never heard of ground cherries before. They sound so fancy.
    I wonder if they’d make a good pie? Hmmm….

    1. They would! At least, there are (relatively) a lot of recipes out there for ground cherry pies and preserves. I might try a tart this week 🙂

  5. ha! I want to try gardening in our new house in the side yard. Should be interesting… I’ve never heard of ground cherry, it almost looks like a tomatillo. We actually got some tomatillos from our CSA for the first time and they are so fabulous to give things a bright flavor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *