This is a public-interest archive. Personal data is pseudonymized and retained under GDPR Article 89.

Summary re: husk tomatoes / ground cherries

> Joan Mathew wrote:
> > Many, many thanks to all the folks who have responded to my
> > questions about the husk tomatoes (tomatillo) and ground cherries.


> As a newbie on this list I have been lurking and reading, with
> considerable interest, for some days now.
> re husk tomatoes (tomatillo) and ground cherries
> Can someone put me wise about these. I've never heard of either of
> them. Either some basic information or perhaps a web site that would
> enable me to get more details.

Jim,
  I was the one who originally asked the questions and generated all
that discussion!  I don't have any specific Web sites that talk
solely about these items, but I have a gardening Web page with lots
of different links, including some for "Southern gardening".  Since I
believe the husk tomatoes are probably more popular in the Southern
cuisine, you will probably find some good stuff there (I haven't
prowled around those links for this subject quite yet).

  I put several of the bits of information into a file for myself,
and I'll copy it here for you, but it's really a copy of what
appeared on the list.

***************************************

From:    John Mertus <John_Mertus@BROWN.EDU>
Subject: Re: ??husk tomato / tomatillo / ground cherry

In article <GRAND%LISTS.GARDENS.104558@brownvm.brown.edu>,
bloke@MAGI.COM says... > >I looked in my Territorial seed catalog. On
one page, they have something >called a ground cherry (solanum
melanocerasum?) Variety [Aunt Molly's]. >on the next righthand page
they have tomatillos (physalis ixocarpa).

>"Experience is something you don't get until just after you needed it
>the most."

   Well, I missed the first part of this discussion, and just wanted
to add a bit of advise which I learned from the school of hard knocks.
I don't know about ground cherry but I do know that both tomatillos
and cape gooseberry (s. peruviana) need TWO plants to produce fruit.
Alas, I once tried to grow only one and nothing set.

   The cape gooseberry is kinda neat, almost a nutty favor, but I
   never
did find much use for it except for eating fresh.  If I was more
adventursome, I might try a pie, but a tomatoe pie?  Even if it
was good, I'd have problems eating it.

***************************************

From:    Bob Carter <bcarter@AWINC.COM>
Subject: Re: ??husk tomato

Hi Joan,

> First of all, is a "husk tomato" the same as a tomatillo?  If not,

Yes.  They have a close relative, the husk cherry or ground cherry,
which is a smaller, sweeter fruited species, almost grape-like.  Great
in quesadillas or just for snacking right out the garden.

> how do they differ?  Should I start the seeds about the same time as
> I do tomatoes (which is approximately during the next week or so
> indoors where I live)?

Start them about 6 weeks (or slightly less) before your last frost
free date. They are slightly hardier and faster growing (when young at
least) then tomatoes.  I usually start them a week or two after
tomatoes.  If you have the space indoors pot them up into pint sized
containers as they grow.  This will allow them to grow freely until
transplant time outdoors, which can be the frost free date in your
area.

> For an intensive, raised-bed garden space, how would one arrange
> this plant for best growth?  I have the impression that it grows
> sort of like a vine, and that perhaps I should consider some sort of
> trellis or similar support for it?  Is it OK to just leave it
> sprawling along the ground, or would that be less than ideal because
> the fruits would be eaten by bugs, etc.?

I wouldn't recommend sprawling in an intensely planted small garden.
Tomatillos will gladly sprawl well beyond their planted location and
dominate pathways and smaller plants nearby.  They branch
geometrically - one growing tip to 2, to 4, to 8, etc., up to a
gazillion, so they can become a unruly lot in short order. In my
intensely planted garden I give them a bed, block planting them 1-2'
apart, and then encourage them to grow upwards by corralling them.
Basically, a few *sturdy* stakes in the corners of the rectangular bed
and then a few tiers of *strong* twine wrapped around to form a fence.
 Whenever they try to grow beyond this perimeter, and they always do,
I poke the growing tips back into their confines.  Maybe not the most
elegant solution, but how do you deal with something so vigourous in
it's spread?  Anyway, it works for me.

> Any tips and other information you can offer about these plants will
> be appreciated, and will give me something more to look forward to

They're easy and relatively problem free.  They tolerate relatively
poor soils, do okay in moderately rich soil, and can be monstrous in
more fertile soils.  Now you just have to figure out what you're going
to do with zillions of tomatillios ... ;-)  Oh, and they will
inevitably drop some of their fruit on the ground, so you'll have
volunteers next year.  They'll be later maturing than transplants
started indoors but will also produce fruit if you let a few grow.

> as I experiment with this new plant in my garden (for that matter,
> *everything* is still an experiment in my garden!).

Ah, the true joy of gardening is that there's always more to discover
no matter how long we've been learning.

***************************************

Just a bit confusing, this husky Physalis... so I consulted my
books and seed catalogs. So far I found five specie in the genus
Physalis that may be planted in the home garden:

Physalis alkekengi      orn.    Chinese Lantern (many sources)
Physalis ixocarpa       veg.    Tomatillo (many sources)
Physalis peruviana      s.f.    Cape Gooseberry, Golden Tomatillo
(Cook's) Physalis pruinosa       veg.    Husk Cherry, Ground Cherry,
Husk Tomato,
                                Strawberry Tomato (Jonny's, Nichols)
Physalis pubescens      ???     ???

"orn." = ornamental, "veg." = vegetable, "s.f." = small fruit,
"???" = use and common name unknown.
Sources are given in parentheses for U.S. home garden seeds.

A revision for the common names of Physalis pruinosa would be a
good thing, I think. This is the Husk Tomato.

There exist crosses between P. pruinosa and P. peruviana named
"P. edulis", with bigger fruit, used as a small fruit (no american
name or source found).



Andreas
-------------------------------------------------
VIVIANI Comp   CH-8833 Samstagern    Switzerland
E-mail: viviani@active.ch  Dr. Andreas Viviani
Tel: +41 1 786 11 16    Fax: +41 1 786 11 25
Homepage:  /http://www2.active.ch/~viviani

***************************************

From:             "Keith Romanczyk" <fdic@moran.com>
To:               <cmathew@airmail.net>
Subject:          Tomatillo
Date sent:        Wed, 26 Feb 1997 17:14:01 -0500

There's a bit of nomenclature overlap. Ground cherries and tomatillos
are from the same family (Physalis) as well as the Chinese Lanterns.
The "ground cherries" are sweet small things and are more difficult
than the tomatillo. They are also common in Europe in the grocers
fruit sections. Quite good, actually.

I'm sure you have the tomatillo, or "husk tomato".  This is used in
the green salsas you see in the markets now.  A sweetish-smokey
flavor.  I love the stuff as much as the regular red salsa.

Anyway, now for the bad news.  The first year I raised tomatillo's (I
used to live in the South and they were common enough in the markets)
they were a great success.  The next year I started them indoors
again.  Big mistake.
 I live in zone 5 and had no idea they were winter hardy seed.  The
 seeds
in the fruit that were left on the enormous bushes were all viable
through the winter.  After tilling, the things came up EVERYWHERE.
Easy to pull and all, but what a waste of time sprouting them in the
greenhouse.  I never start seed for these anymore.  I just leave a few
when I weed.

You will not need many plants.  Unless you plan on marketing "Joan's
Old Fashioned Tomatillo Salsa" by the truckload, of course.  These are
highly productive plants.

***************************************

From:    Liz Albrook <ealbrook@LEWISTON.COM>
Subject: Re: ??husk tomato

Husk tomato, physalis peruviana, aka cape gooseberry, ground-cherry,
strawberry tomato, gooseberry tomato, poha and winter cherry. Closely
related to the tomatillo.

Fruit are ddep yellow.  When ripe, the husks turn brown and the
fruits drop from the plant.  Fruits left in the husks will keep for
several weeks, and their flavor is improved by a light frost  They are
sweet, with a spicy flavor reminiscent of cinnamon and cloves.

The fruit is used in pies and jams or may be dried in sugar and used
like raisins.  Hawaii's poha jam is husk tomato jam.  They may also be
eaten raw.

Not from memory but from the Ortho Veggie book.

***************************************

From:             jwintermute@ids2.idsonline.com (Janet Wintermute)
Subject:          Re: ??husk tomato

>First of all, is a "husk tomato" the same as a tomatillo?

I think they're the same.  All the descriptions of tomatillos I've
seen mention the synonym "husk tomato."

If I remember right, though, tomatillos are not from the genus
Lycopersicon.

I grew them for the first time last year and won't bother again.  But
they did quite well without support.  They form a plant about the size
of a patio tomato (this is in USDA zone 7, outside Washington, DC) but
with a much more open branch structure and less leaf cover.  Each
plant bore about 12 tomatillo fruits.

I started them the same time as my tomato seeds and transplanted them
out at the same time.  The fruits showed some early signs of ripening
in late July (the signal is when the fruit spied between breaks in the
paper husk begins to turn light golden (it starts grenish white).

I made salsa once, using several kinds of heirloom tomatoes (excellent
taste), a pre-prepared packet of salsa seasoning from French's, and
some chopped-up tomatillos.  It tasted *bad,* and I tend to blame that
on the tomatillos.

>For an intensive, raised-bed garden space, how would one arrange this
>plant for best growth?  I have the impression that it grows sort of
>like a vine, and that perhaps I should consider some sort of trellis
>or similar support for it?  Is it OK to just leave it sprawling along
>the ground, or would that be less than ideal because the fruits would
>be eaten by bugs, etc.?

Mine were not staked but maintained an upright posture of their own
accord.

They were completely overtopped by weeds at our community plot, in
fact, but continued to set and mature fruit despite all that.

***************************************

If it's a tomatillo, it will sprawl, and grow almost as rampantly as
an indeterminate tomato.  I have found it's very difficult to encage
one, so I'd advise doing Kay's trick of putting cardboard under the
plant and let it sprawl, unfettered by corsets, etc. ;-))))) > >Any
tips and other information you can offer about these plants will >be
appreciated, and will give me something more to look forward to >as I
experiment with this new plant in my garden (for that matter,
>*everything* is still an experiment in my garden!).

Better plant two of them, I guess, if you want fruit.  Pick tomatillos
when they fill out the husk.  Some extension offices are advising to
wait until fruit drops to the ground but by then they're yellow and
too sweet to use in Mexican sauces.  Use them when still colored
green, remove husks and wash sticky stuff off skin, then halve and
simmer in a tiny amount of water, then run through food processor and
freeze or use fresh.

***************************************

cmathew@airmail.net
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/8098/
USDA gardening zone 7b (just north of Dallas, TX)
Follow-Ups:
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index