Ground Cherry Salsa
Filed Under Appetizer, Recipe, Vegetable | Printer Friendly Page
I am still amazed at the wonderful treasures we can find at our Farmer’s Market! Today, we scored a pint of the elusive ground cherry. What are those I asked? The vendor gave us a sample and went on to explain that it was something that her grandfather had always grown on the farm. These sweet little packages look like tiny tomatillos, but when the papery husk comes off they are yellow when ripe and are not sticky to the touch like a tomatillo is. The texture is like a small cherry tomato, but the taste is sweet and complex with hints of melon, tomato and strawberry. We kept on eating them trying to put a finger on what they reminded us of, and before we knew it we had burned though half of our stash. The vendor told us that they had used them in pies and jams, but I wanted to capture this unique flavor without cooking them.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 pint of Ground Cherries, each one halved
- 1/4 Red Onion, diced
- 1/4 jalapeno, diced
- Cilantro, chopped
- Red Bell Pepper, diced
- Very *small* squeeze Lime Juice
- Roughly a teaspoon or two Extra Virgin Olive oil
- Very *small* pinch Salt
Mix everything together and let sit for 30 minutes so the flavors can come together. Do not overdue it with the salt or lime; the small amount of salt is only needed to draw out liquid from the cherries so they can macerate with the olive oil and lime juice.
We just ground cherries at our local farmers’ market this week also! I was wondering what could be done with them. Nice post.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Your salsa looks just fabulous. I love tomatoes and will be sad when the season is over.
Wow! This sounds so yummy! I have never had ground cherries - when I looked at the photo I though immediately tomatillos! Wow, so cool!
I am so jealous of your market finds. I know I’d love this salsa.
I haven’t come across ground cherries at our farmer’s market. I have come to the conclusion that our market is pretty standard and boring this year. Nothing exciting in the offerings. I like your idea of preparing a salad with the cherries.
What an interesting looking fruit! I have never seen it before but your description is so engaging
That salsa looks delicious!
I bet that tastes fantastic. I only ever think of them paired with chocolate.
My wife started growing ground cherries last year at our new house in the country. Being that our soil needs a lot of work these were the one plant that came through with abundancy and we just ate them all as nice snacks. It is nice to see some recipes, you maybe interested in this pie that I just found online: http://www.veseys.com/ca/en/gardeninfo/reference/recipes/groundcherrypie
Have ground cherries growing in our garden. Have tried the recipe and my husband loves it.
Jean, I am glad to hear that you liked it. I wish I had these growing in our garden!
I’m amazed that you managed to save some ground cherries for an actual recipe! I find them as addictive as fresh peas, which never make it to the pot. They get gobbled up as they are!
Don’t spread the word about them- let’s just keep them to ourselves!
Yummy yummy yummy! Just scored some organic ground cherries at a local farm and salsa was the first thing I thought when I laid eyes on them and as soon as I tasted it I knew salsa was where it would end up. Gives the salsa a nice sweetness.
I was wondering the nutrtional value of ground cherries….
Kathy, Here is what I was able to find.
Calories 40
Protein 1.6
Fat 0.5
Calcium 10
Phosphorus 34
Iron 0.9
Sodium –
Potassium –
Vitamin A 25
Thiamin 0.9
Riboflavin 0.04
Niacin 2.4
vitamin c 6
Source: http://www.edibleplants.com/wepnut_frames.htm
I bought them last week at our local farmer’s market and roasted them in the oven with garlic and olive oil-tossed in pasta-came out really quite good except that they kind of liquified when I tossed them in with the pasta. Oh well-tasted great!! I think you can’t expect them to hold shape well when heated but the taste is quite unique and the pasta was great.