Ground cherries are neither ground, nor cherries. Discuss.

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe: Ground Cherry Pie.

They are also known as husk tomatoes and Cape gooseberries. They are native to Central and South America, and are related to tomatillos. "Cape gooseberry" comes from them being transplanted to the Cape in South Africa; apparently they do very well there.

2.5 cups (husked) ground cherries (about 1 pound unhusked)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp water

1 9" pie shell (I used an 8" low tart shell: 3/4 c flour, 2 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp lard, ~3 Tbsp cold water)
3 Tbsp flour
3 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp butter

Heat oven to 425. Wash ground cherries and place in unbaked pie shell. Mix the brown sugar and 1 Tbsp flour; sprinkle over the cherries. Sprinkle water over the top. Mix together the 3 Tbsp flour and sugar; cut butter in until crumbly and top the pie with the mixture.

Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375 and bake for 25 minutes longer.

What worked: One of the vendors at the farmers' market had these, so I wanted to try them. The mixture was sweet but not overly so; it was a good fall dessert.
I was planning to try an almond milk crust for the heck of it, but forgot to soak the almonds the night before to make milk. So I just made my standard short crust which makes a nice flaky crust.
I thought the crust might have a soggy bottom, but it was beautifully baked and crisp.

What didn't: The amount was a bit meager for a standard 9" pie crust. It worked okay for a shallow 8" tart though. The flavor was a bit one-dimensional; a dash of ginger or white pepper might have livened it up. The wife suggested adding in some halved cranberries, which would add a nice tartness as well as color.

Will I make it again? We're at the end of the season, so next year perhaps. I did try it a second time with 1/2 cup cranberries as well as 1 tsp mixed brown spices (aka "apple pie spice"); that was a significant improvement as well as pretty. Heck, this might be interesting to try with 100% cranberries.

Comments

[kareina]

I thought I had no idea what you were talking about, since I have never heard to ground cherries, husk tomatoes, or Cape gooseberries, and while I have heard of tomatillos, I didn't know what the word referred to. so I asked my friend google, and it turns out that you mean physalis, a fruit I had never seen before the first time I visited Austria, but they are reasonably common here in Sweden, too. It never would have occurred to me to try cooking with them.