Annual Fruit? Inca Berries v Ground Cherries. Why Both Are Delicious Fall Crops Worth Growing

It's that time of year! The Inca berries and ground cherries are beginning to ripen!

Did you know that there are ANNUAL fruits you can grow and enjoy in your garden? The Physalis berries: Inca berries (also called Cape Gooseberry), and Ground Cherries. Let's look at how they're different, the pluses and minuses of both, and why I grow both in my permaculture garden to get a heavy yield of these sweet pineapple-y berries in September and into October.

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#incaberry #berries #permaculture #pdx #gardening #beekeeping #urbanfarm #parkrosepermaculture #permaculturedesign #foodforest

[jeffmeyers]

You know you're hardcore permaculture and lover of pollinators when you name your child Bee 🙂

[SgtSnausages]

Both are pretty awesome dehydrated like raisins.

[foodforestretirement]

A much needed comparison 🙌 👏 Thank you!

[Modvegan]

Thank you so much for this video! You saved me both time and money. I live in Canada, and we keep seeing “Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherry” in seed catalogues. My husband is from Colombia, and uchuva (Inca berry) is one of his favourite fruits, and I wanted to try growing it in our garden. Inca berries definitely look so much closer to uchuva (something impossible to tell from a seed catalogue, but immediately apparent in your side-by-side comparison). So, if you have any viewers from Latin America that are confused, like I was - Inca berries are the correct fruit to plant. I knew something was wrong when people kept saying ground cherries taste like tomatoes! Uchuva/Inca berry barely has any of that distinct flavour. Thanks again for your video, and for your amazing channel - I just discovered you, and I find something new and useful in your videos every day.

[jacquivowles]

My mum used to make jam from what we called cape gooseberries - as I child i would have preferred to eat them all fresh

[Cat-nfbh]

Great video! I've grown aunt Molly's ground cherries before and wasn't aware of the difference between the two species till last year after trying inca/golden berries at a farmers market. This year I'm growing both and they are just starting to ripen!

[msb]

I have some of the ground cherries come back every year here in Arkansas. I don't know how they got here but I'm ready to start eating them when they get bigger. I have seen them as large as your bigger variety.

[traryvery]

I have always known it as Cape Gooseberry in Australia, having arrived in NSW via Africa (Cape of Good Hope?) although a South African site said the name was a reference to the ‘cape like husk’. Apparently favoured by early colonists here due to easy growth and productivity.
Inca berry seems a more appropriate name given its South American origin.
Grows happily in near continuous production my South Australian garden (needs summer watering to keep producing fruit) Tough as! Love it.

[TheTinkerersWife]

Thank you so much for doing this comparison, I've wondered about the Inca berry. I've grew Aunt Molly's for years and recently got to taste Pineapple ground cherry. I thought the Pineapple ground cherry was a bit better than Aunt Molly's, but both are delicious. I am definitely going to have to add Inca berry to my garden next year.

[darthfiende]

Super helpful! I grew ground cherries this year and was disappointed that they didn't get cherry tomato size. I think I confused them with inca berries; I'll definitely order seeds for those next year! I want them big enough to dip in chocolate.🤤

[ellarussell]

I have ground cherries in my garden. Planted once four years ago and they've voluntarily come up every year since. I've eaten them while green but never had upset stomach

[troutfisher]

Someone gave me a few plants last fall and they made it through the winter and have lots of fruit. The plants look big and healthy. The fruit seems to be taking a long time to ripen, but since I know nothing about them maybe they're doing their natural thing. It's almost July they are all green

[scottfraser]

Theres also pineapple ground cherry and cape gooseberry

[permiebird]

We grew ground cherries again, . I'm trying dehydrating the this time.

[tmzumba]

My Inca berry plants have never gotten that large. Maybe next year. 🤞 I think the fruit is delicious.

[keyphabenyisrael]

Hello! As I've mentioned on your channel previously, I couldn't stand the flavor of pineapple and aunt Molly ground cherries when I grew a few plants of each variety in 2021. However, since I loved the way they grew, they produced prolifically, *and* I had extended family who were excited and delighted by them, I tried growing them again this year but none of my seeds germinated. I'm very tempted to get physalis peruviana seeds, to see if their flavor is more to my liking.

[jamiebaker]

Where do you get seeds for the inca berry? Also how long do they need before they bear fruit? I'm growing tons of ground cherries but I'd like to try inca berry too.

[amandapretti]

Have you tried growing these as perennials? I was just reading in Toensmeier's "Perennial Vegetables" that they can be cut back at the end of their productive period and will regrow the following year so long as we don't have a particularly cold winter. Very curious if you've ever had them pop back up.

[jilliand]

I got some Inca I got some Inca berries from the store and grew some from the fruit but it has yet to get any flowers. Are the fruits you buy from the store Infertile? I also have aunt Molly as well and those are doing fantastic!

[PatientFarmer]

Why are my ground cherries the size of those Inka berries? My plant is definitely a crawler but gets about 3' tall.