Little gems of tropical pineapple sweetness.
All of the hype about Cape gooseberries is true. Cape gooseberries taste amazing. They burst with sweetness. You will be amazed you can grow a fruit plant, from seed, in your backyard. Cape Gooseberry is easy to grow and it’s easy to know when they are ripe, because the papery husks fall to the ground (you can give it a gentle shake), then unwrap and enjoy.
We quickly fell in love with this little berry and wanted to know more about it. We found out that a lot of research has been done on Cape Gooseberry for its nutritional and medicinal properties. Muñoz and colleagues call it a ‘Functional Food’ and list its attributes (2021):
Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana) is a potential candidate for [the title of] ‘original functional food’ because of its nutritional properties and biologically active components. In particular, the pulp is a good source of provitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B complex, phenolic compounds, and various minerals of nutritional importance. The chemical composition of P. peruviana fruit extract has indicated the presence of different chemical compounds, such as saponins, withanolides*, peruvioses, irinians, kaempferol, and quercetin di- and ri-glycosides, some of which have demonstrated antioxidant, hypoglycemic, and anticancer activities.”
That is a lot of goodness packed into a small berry.
How to Plant: Similar to tomatoes start indoors 8 weeks before the date of last frost. Sow seeds 5 mm (¼ inch) deep in individual pots. A heat mat will help germination, but note that Physalis species can be slower to germinate than tomatoes and can take 1-3 weeks. Transplant outside when nighttime temperatures are consistently 10C or warmer. Cape Gooseberry does well in the garden or a 5 gallon container.
* Regarding withanolides, Huang and colleagues (2019) write: “Withanolides demonstrated diverse biological activity, such as anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, immunoregulatory, trypanocidal and leishmanicidal activity. Their observed pharmacological functions supported the uses of Physalis species in traditional or folk medicines.”
