French Fruits.

[swestrup]

On Saturday taxlady and I went to a 50th dinner party for the wife of an old high-school chum of mine. There was wine, a meal and desert (cake, naturally).

On top of each piece of cake was a small yellow fruit that we were informed was called a "cerise de terre" in French, but no one knew what the English term was.

A bit of googling revealed the I-should-have-guessed answer that in English its known as a Ground Cherry. I had never had one before, and have only the vaguest of recollections of even having heard of it before. Anyway, it was yummy, and so I have a new fruit to check off my list.

Comments

[kishiriadgr.livejournal.com]

Ground cherries are indigenous to Quebec. They'll be available late-summer.

[dcoombs.livejournal.com]

See the wikipedia artcile. I learned of these things a couple years ago, under the name "South African Gooseberry" when I got one with a salad at a restaurant and asked what it was.

The above article mentions the name "Cape Gooseberry" as well. The word "Cape" is either a reference to the Cape of Good Hope, or to the capish appearance of the papery leaves around the fruit.

They're commonly called ground cherries here, though, yes.

[dcoombs.livejournal.com]

I find they taste a bit like a cross between a kiwi and a tomato.

[swestrup]

You pointed to the article that I had already pointed out was where I learned about them...

[dcoombs.livejournal.com]

Wow, true. I think I somehow didn't realize that you had provided a link, which is pretty silly of me. Sorry for being dense; I've been up since about O-Dark-Thirty.

[peaceful-dragon.livejournal.com]

That's amusing. I had the same reaction not too long ago when I got one on a salad in a little french bistro.

[capj.livejournal.com]

From "Pommes de terre" I would not have guessed that the English was "potato", so I was looking for something more obscure. Were you mentally snookered the same way?

[swestrup]

Yup. That's it exactly.