...ground cherry, tomatillo, chinese lantern, physalis spp.
Whatever you wanna call it, it's good to eat. I like ground cherry because they grow near the ground and are sweet and tart like a cherry.
I've found nothing in the wilderness that remotely resmebles this, but it's always a good idea to do your own homework and find out for sure based on your own little part of the world. These can be gathered by the handfulls in late fall, they have a protective sheath which keeps dirt and bugs off the sweet sticky fruits. they come in a wide variety of colors anywhere from green to purple whe ripe and the easiest way I've found to tell if they're ripe is to taste them. If they are too sour I don't eat them, just like any other fruit really.
As far as pics and descriptions the internet is already chock full of information. There are cultivated varieties and a popular dish is Salsa verde, but i want to make a pie with them. These are easily cultivated and grow right up through the meanest weeds. There is a local garden chock full of purple volunteers from last season. Plus, I've found wild varieties growing in almost every field around here. But, they can be easily missed as they only grow up a foot or two high at most in the wild around here.
You may find a few with mold or frostbite, but other than that, they are a pretty clean fruit that doesn't seem to get bugs. I've yet to find a cultivated or wild one with a bug in it, or even on it for that matter. They also seem to store fairly well given what they are, a fruit. I've had a handfull of cultivated ones sitting in my window sill for about a month and they are still just as fresh as the day I picked them, one rotted, but I think it was damaged.
A pretty good wild edible. Check it out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9ao2...9DFB2A4ED09C68
Bookmarks