Orange Groundcherry Jam with Rosemary

For jam, ground cherries are as versatile as figs. Myriad little seeds create a textural and visual resemblance to green fig jam. Recalling a lovely orange fig jam of two years ago, and ground cherry jam with rosemary that I wrote about but didn’t post, I decided to use up all of the accumulated ground cherries in one go. Ground cherries, also known as husk cherries and cape gooseberries, are relatives of the tomatillo, growing to fill out papery puffs hanging like lanterns on branching vines. This year’s crops of both ground cherries and tomatillos – from our CSA – yielded diminutive fruit, probably because of weather condtions. Ground cherries were the size of peas rather than small cherry tomatoes as in the past. You harvest them after they fall to the ground (hence the name) but it’s best to let them sit in a bowl to ripen to a yellow shade.  Too green and they could bother your digestion. 

Orange Groundcherry Jam with Rosemary

1½ qts ground cherries, yielding 2½ c after husking

2/3 c water

Approximately 1 c sugar

1 tbsp grated orange zest

Small sprigs of rosemary

Make sure the groundcherries are free of dust and dirt. Place them in a saucepan with the water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until the groundcherries start to collapse, and mash them lightly with the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and measure the fruit. Return the fruit to the pan and add sugar equal to half the measure of fruit. I had 2 cups fruit, so I added one cup of sugar.

Bring the mixture back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat and add the orange zest, stirring to combine. Place a crumpled piece of parchment paper on top of the jam and set it aside for 2-3 hours or overnight (in which case it should be refrigerated. The purpose of this step is to build up the gelling capacity.)

Prepare jars for water bath canning.  Place a saucer in the freezer for testing the gel. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Start testing for gel. Mine reached gel stage in less than ten minutes. Pour into prepared jars. Submerge a few leaves of rosemary (3-4 leaves) in the hot jam, making sure they are covered and not harboring air pockets.

Process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the canner lid and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to a counter to sit undisturbed until cool.

Makes 1 pint (4 four-ounce jars).

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Salsa Verde Two Ways: Roasted and with Ground Cherries

During the last weeks of October, leading up to our Halloween weekend snowstorm, we were harvesting ground cherries and tomatillos in considerable volume, a quart of tomatillos a week, or more if you could use them. Also in abundance at our CSA were ground cherries. Sometimes referred to as husk cherries, these are sweet-tart fruits (vegetables?) that look like miniature tomatillos, and are harvested when they fall off the vine (hence the moniker ground cherries).  Earlier this year, I cooked them into a jam first as- is and then a second batch infused with the piney flavor of rosemary.  

 At the end of October, I also had a giant poblano pepper plant in my garden, so huge that I nicknamed it the “great ancho-lada,” ancho being the dried version of poblano. It was five feet tall and had at least two dozen peppers on it after I’d already harvested at least a dozen. (It came from Seed Savers Exchange.) Right before the storm hit, everything left on the vine was harvested and stored in the refrigerator.

 What to do with such simpatico ingredients a couple of weeks later? I considered canning another batch of tomatillo salsa but I already have more in the pantry than I can imagine eating. I decided instead to make two versions of Mexican salsa verde: one roasted and the other gently poached on top of the stove, combined with ground cherries that were poached and then roasted on a baking sheet to deepen the flavor and diminish the liquidity. The latter method was so successful that I might try it on the canned tomatillo sauce this winter since, in order to gain the proper pH level for canning, the canned sauce contains a good amount of lemon juice.

The combination of ground cherries and tomatillos was perfect with a bowl of chips (my husband’s obsession), and the roasted salsa verde found its way into quesadillas and enchiladas.  

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde

1 quart firm tomatillos, husked and rinsed

Vegetable oil

Salt

1 medium onion, peeled

1 clove garlic

1 jalapeno pepper (or more to taste)

1-2 small young poblano peppers (optional)

Cilantro leaves, torn

Lime juice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Halve the tomatillos, toss them in a little oil and salt and place them cut side down at one end of a heavy baking sheet. Halve the onion lengthwise and slice it crosswise. Cut the garlic in half lengthwise. Toss the onion and garlic with vegetable oil and salt and place in their own zone on the baking sheet. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise, seed them (being careful not to touch them with your hands, using a sharp knife and a thin-tined carving fork).  Sprinkle on a couple of drops of oil and place them cut side down on the baking sheet. (Since my poblanos were tiny, I roasted them whole and cut off the flesh after cooking.)

Roast the vegetables or about 15 minutes, keeping an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn, removing them to the bowl of a wood processor as they are done. Process them to a smooth sauce and set aside to cool. When cool, taste for seasoning. Serve with torn cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice.

Salsa Verde with Ground Cherries

1 quart firm tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1 medium onion, peeled

1 clove garlic

1 jalapeno pepper (or more to taste), seeded

1-2 small young poblano peppers (optional), seeded

1 pt ground cherries, husked and rinsed

Water

Cilantro leaves, torn

Lime juice

Additional hot pepper (optional)

Cut the tomatillos in half and coarsely chop the onion, garlic, and peppers. Place in a saucepan and add a water to come up on the vegetables about 1/3 of the way. Place the ground cherries in another saucepan and add water to come up on the ground cherries about 1/3 of the way. Bring both pots to a boil on top of the stove, lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are broken down, about 10 minutes. Mash the ground cherries a little. When cooled, combine the two pots of ingredients and chill.  When serving, add torn cilantro leaves and a squeeze of lime juice.

Optional reduction step: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a baking pan in the over. After the ground cherries are cooked, scrape them onto the hot baking pan and cook, stirring occasionally, to evaporate excess liquid and add a roasted depth of flavor.

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In a Jam: Groundcherries

Ground cherries, also known as husk cherries, are piquant little yellow orbs that try like crazy to grow into their papery husks. A relative of the tomatillo, it is harvested when it falls off of the plant (hence the reference to ground?). Since they’re typically in short supply around here, I add them to add spark to tomatillo salsa and mix them in with a cherry tomato salad, but this year, with a fortunate abundance, I decided to make them into a scrumptious jam. I cooked them in a little water, as I do cranberries and blueberries so that I can gauge the amount of sugar. I bet these are high in pectin since they set up quickly.

Groundcherry Jam

1½-2 pts ground cherries, yielding 1½ c after husking

½ c water

Approximately ¾ c sugar or a little less

Make sure the ground cherries are free of dust and dirt. Place them in a saucepan with the water and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook until the ground cherries start to collapse, and mash them lightly with the back of a spoon.

Remove from the heat and measure the fruit. Return the fruit to the pan and add sugar equal to ½-3/4 the measure of fruit. I had 1cup fruit, so I added a scant ¾ cup of sugar.

Bring the mixture back to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Remove from the heat, place a crumpled piece of parchment paper on top and set aside for 2-3 hours or overnight (in which case it should be refrigerated. The purpose of this step is to build up the gelling capacity.)

Prepare jars for water bath canning.  Place a saucer n the freezer for testing the gel. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Start testing for gel. Mine reached gel stage in less than ten minutes. Pour into prepared jars and process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes after the water returns to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the canner lid and let sit for 5 minutes before removing to a counter to sit undisturbed until cool.

Makes ½ pint (2 four-ounce jars) and extra for tasting.

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Tomatillos and Husk Cherries

This past summer’s tomato harvest was a complete disaster in our area due to a fungal disease called late blight, so I was disappointed not to be able to can tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato-based salsa for winter use for the first time in (believe it or not) decades.  I was really pleased that our farm (a CSA) persevered to plant lots of tomatillos and that the weather cooperated to ripen them before the frost. We get to harvest them ourselves and it’s great to be outdoors on a stunning, sunny fall morning with something still growing in the fields. So salsa verde from tomatillos it will be, some to can and keep for the winter and some to slurp up now – roasted, poached or raw.

A related treat from the farm, planted in adjoining rows, is the husk cherry, or ground cherry, a diminutive relative of the tomatillo, measuring about 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter. I’ve been scooping up these little papery husks from the ground as share distribution and gleaning permit, and eat them raw by themselves or add them to salad.  They are like yellow cherry tomatoes with a fruity kick. Their sweet and piquant burst of flavor is a surprise, and I’ve decided that they can complement their tangy, unctuous cousin, the tomatillo, in a combo salsa of raw and cooked.

Tomatillos and husk cherries belong to a branch of the family that includes the tomato, but they are supposedly more akin to the gooseberry. Tomatillos are also referred to as “Mexican tomatoes” since they resemble green tomatoes and supposedly originated in Mexico. They do ripen to yellow, but then they’re soft and neither the texture nor the flavor is as robust as when green. Avoid those. While husk cherries are harvested after they fall to the ground (which I’m guessing is why they’re called ground cherries), tomatillos are harvested when the fruit grows large enough to fill the papery, and somewhat dry, bag or husk, and even starts to poke through.

They do keep for a few weeks in a cool spot (or refrigerator), so I stockpile my CSA one-quart-a-week harvest limit to accumulate enough to preserve, that is unless we just need to have some salsa now.  Here’s a simple salsa verde that uses both tomatillos and their cousins, but obviously the latter is just an extra treat.

Tomatillo Salsa with Husk Cherries (if you can find them)

1 lb tomatillos (about 8 medium, approximately 1 dry quart), husked and washed

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and roughly chopped (more to taste)

Handful of cilantro leaves, torn into small pieces (about 1/3 cup or more to taste)

Lime juice (1/4-1/2 lime, to taste)

Husk cherries, husked and washed, about ½ c or more to taste (optional)

Poach the tomatillos, half of the onion and half of the pepper in water barely to cover, simmering for about 5 minutes or until tender. Drain well, cool and remove to a food processor. Add the rest of the onions and pepper and pulse to blend. Add cilantro and husk cherries and pulse again to chop roughly. Adjust the amount of pepper to taste. Makes about 1 ½ cup.

Variation: Chop a ripe avocado and add it to the tomatillo salsa.

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