Ground Cherry Harvest

On June 18, I wrote about the ground cherries that I planted this year.


http://windyacresnaturalfarm.blogspot.com/2012/06/ground-cherries.html

I'm happy to report that I harvested my first handful of ground cherries this week.  Here is a picture of them.

Each ground cherry is enclosed in a papery husk.  On average, they are about the size of a marble and are ripe when they are a light yellow color, like the one on the right.  They tend to fall off the vine when the husk starts to dry and it appears that they continue to ripen even after that.  


They have a pleasantly sweet taste, but I wouldn't say they taste like cherries.  Their taste is quite unique.  However, I have discovered that they take a LOT of water and I'm not sure if I will be able to keep these alive long enough to harvest the amount needed for a recipe.  Our daytime high temperatures are climbing into the triple digits now and the ground cherries seem to be having a difficult time holding their own.   I suspect they are much more suited to a cooler, wetter climate.