Physalis peruviana, commonly known as
physalisPhysalis is a genus of plants in the nightshade family , native to warm temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. The genus is characterised by the small orange fruit similar in size, shape and structure to a small tomato, but partly or fully enclosed in a large papery husk derived...
, is indigenous to
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, but was cultivated in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
in the region of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
during the 1800s, imparting its common name,
cape gooseberry.
As a member of the plant family
SolanaceaeThe Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains a number of important agricultural plants as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
, it is related to a large number of edible plants, including
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
, eggplant and
potatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food...
, and other members of the nightshades. It is closely related to the
tomatilloThe tomatillo is a plant of the Solanaceae family, related to tomatoes, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine...
but not to the
cherryThe cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus. It is a fleshy fruit that contains a single stony seed. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium.The name 'cherry', often as the...
,
RibesRibes is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants, usually treated as the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae. The genus is native throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
gooseberryThe gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa is a species of Ribes, native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia...
,
Indian gooseberryThe Indian gooseberry is a deciduous tree of the Euphorbiaceae family. It is known for its edible fruit of the same name....
or Chinese gooseberry, as its various names might suggest.
The
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
is a small round
berryThe botanical definition of a berry is a simple fruit produced from a single ovary, such as a grape or a tomato. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary formed by the fusion of...
about the size of a
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
with numerous small yellow
seedA seed , referred to as a kernel in some plants, is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s.
Physalis peruviana, commonly known as
physalisPhysalis is a genus of plants in the nightshade family , native to warm temperate and subtropical regions throughout the world. The genus is characterised by the small orange fruit similar in size, shape and structure to a small tomato, but partly or fully enclosed in a large papery husk derived...
, is indigenous to
South AmericaSouth America is the southern continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere...
, but was cultivated in
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
in the region of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
during the 1800s, imparting its common name,
cape gooseberry.
As a member of the plant family
SolanaceaeThe Solanaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains a number of important agricultural plants as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
, it is related to a large number of edible plants, including
tomatoThe tomato is a herbaceous, usually sprawling plant in the Solanaceae or nightshade family that is typically cultivated for the purpose of harvesting its fruit for human consumption...
, eggplant and
potatoThe potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food...
, and other members of the nightshades. It is closely related to the
tomatilloThe tomatillo is a plant of the Solanaceae family, related to tomatoes, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine...
but not to the
cherryThe cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus. It is a fleshy fruit that contains a single stony seed. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium.The name 'cherry', often as the...
,
RibesRibes is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants, usually treated as the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae. The genus is native throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
gooseberryThe gooseberry Ribes uva-crispa is a species of Ribes, native to Europe, northwestern Africa and southwestern Asia...
,
Indian gooseberryThe Indian gooseberry is a deciduous tree of the Euphorbiaceae family. It is known for its edible fruit of the same name....
or Chinese gooseberry, as its various names might suggest.
The
fruitThe term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants disseminate seeds, and the presence of seeds indicates that a structure is most likely a fruit, though not all seeds come from...
is a small round
berryThe botanical definition of a berry is a simple fruit produced from a single ovary, such as a grape or a tomato. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp. The flowers of these plants have a superior ovary formed by the fusion of...
about the size of a
marbleMarble is a non foliated metamorphic rock resulting from the metamorphism of limestone, composed mostly of calcite . It is extensively used for sculpture, as a building material, and in many other applications...
with numerous small yellow
seedA seed , referred to as a kernel in some plants, is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s. It is bright yellow and sweet when ripe, making it ideal for snacks,
pieA pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough shell that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients...
s or jams. It is popular in fruit salads, sometimes combined with
avocadoThe avocado , also known as palta or aguacate , butter pear or alligator pear, is a tree native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel...
.
Its most notable feature is the single papery pod that covers each berry. Because of the fruit's decorative appearance, it is sometimes used in restaurants as an exotic garnish for
dessertDessert is a course that typically comes at the end of a meal, usually consisting of sweet food but sometimes of a strongly-flavored one, such as some cheeses...
s. If the fruit is left inside the husks, its shelf life at room temperature is over 30-45 days.
Names
Physalis peruviana has a variety of names, mostly of geographic or language use, such as Aguaymanto, cape gooseberry, husk cherry, poha berry, ground-cherry, Peruvian cherry, harankash, golden berry, uchuva, Inca berry, uvilla, capuli or sfivalis, and gu niao (菇茑)
Geographic and cultivation origins
Native to high altitude tropical Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Peru where the fruits grow wild, are casually eaten and occasionally sold in markets but the plant has become only recently an important crop, it has been widely introduced into cultivation in other tropical, subtropical and even temperate areas.
The plant was grown by early settlers of the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
before 1807. In
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
it is commercially cultivated; canned fruits and jam are staple commodities, often exported. It is also cultivated and naturalized on a small scale in
GabonGabon is a country in west central Africa sharing borders with the Gulf of Guinea to the west, Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, and Cameroon to the north, with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. Its size is almost 270,000 km² with an estimated population...
and other parts of
Central AfricaCentral Africa is a core region of the African continent often considered to include Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....
.
Soon after its adoption in the
Cape of Good HopeThe Cape of Good Hope is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of South Africa. There is a very common misconception that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern tip of Africa and the dividing point between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, but in fact the southernmost point is Cape Agulhas, about...
(presumably the origin of the name 'Cape gooseberry'), it was carried to
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
, where it was one of the few fresh fruits of the early settlers in
New South WalesNew South Wales is Australia's most populous state, located in the south-east of the country, north of Victoria, south of Queensland and east of South Australia...
. There it has long been grown on a large scale and is abundantly naturalized, as it is also in
QueenslandQueensland is a state of Australia that occupies the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory to the west, South Australia to the south-west and New South Wales to the south. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
,
VictoriaVictoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales to the north, South Australia to the west, and Tasmania to the south, across the Bass Strait. Victoria is the most densely populated state, with over 70% of...
,
South AustraliaSouth Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories....
,
Western AustraliaWestern Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. Australia's largest state and the second largest subnational entity in the world, it has 2.2 million inhabitants , 85% of whom live in the south-west corner of the state.The state's capital...
and northern
TasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is located south of the eastern side of the continent, from which it is separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania – the 26th largest island in the world – and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 500,000 ,...
. It is also favored in
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
where it is said that "the housewife is sometimes embarrassed by the quantity of berries in the garden" , and government agencies promote increased culinary use. It is also grown in India, and is called Rasbhari (रसभरी) in Hindi.
The Cape gooseberry is also grown in North Eastern China, namely Heilongjiang province. A seasonal fruit harvested in late August through September. In Chinese pinyin, the fruit is informally referred to as "gu niao" (菇茑) and the scientific name is
Physalis pubescens L or in Chinese pinyin "mao suan jiang" (毛酸浆).
Medical research, folk medicine and potential health value
Scientific studies of the cape gooseberry show its constituents, possibly
polyphenolPolyphenols are a group of chemical substances found in plants, characterized by the presence of more than one phenol unit or building block per molecule...
s and/or
carotenoidCarotenoids are organic pigments that are naturally occurring in the chloroplasts and chromoplasts of plants and some other photosynthetic organisms like algae, some types of fungus and some bacteria....
s, demonstrate anti-inflammatory and
antioxidantAn antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules. Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells...
properties.
In
folk medicineFolk medicine refers to healing practices and ideas of body physiology and health preservation widely known to much of the population in a culture, transmitted informally as general knowledge, and practiced or applied by anyone in the culture . All cultures and societies have knowledge best...
, Physalis peruviana has been used as a medicinal herb for cancer, malaria, asthma, hepatitis, dermatitis and rheumatism. None of these diseases, however, is confirmed in scientific studies as treatable by the cape gooseberry.
Pests and Diseases
In South Africa, the most important of the many insect pests that attack the cape gooseberry are
cutwormThe term cutworm is used for the larvae of many species of moth. Most cutworms are in the moth family Noctuidae, however, many noctuid larvae are not cutworms. Cutworms are notorious agricultural and garden pests. They are voracious leaf, bud, and stem feeders and can destroy entire plants...
s, in seedbeds; red spider after plants have been established in the field; the potato tuber moth if the cape gooseberry is in the vicinity of potato fields. Hares damage young plants and birds eat the fruits if not repelled. In India, mites may cause defoliation. In Jamaica, the leaves were suddenly riddled by what were apparently
flea beetleFlea beetles is a general name applied to the small, jumping beetles of the leaf beetle family . They make up the tribe Alticini, which is a part of the subfamily Galerucinae, though they were historically classified as a subfamily in their own right...
s. In The Bahamas,
whiteflyThe whiteflies, comprising only the family Aleyrodidae, are small hemipterans. More than 1550 species have been described. Whiteflies typically feed on the underside of plant leaves.-Agricultural threat:...
attacks on the very young plants and flea beetles on the flowering plants required control.
In South Africa, the most troublesome diseases are
powdery mildewPowdery mildew is a fungal disease that affects a wide range of plants. Powdery mildew diseases are caused by many different species of fungi in the order Erysiphales. It is one of the easier diseases to spot, as its symptoms are quite distinctive. Infected plants display white powder-like spots on...
and soft brown
scaleThe scale insects are small insects of the order Hemiptera, generally classified as the superfamily Coccoidea. There are about 8,000 species of scale insects....
. The plants are prone to root rots and viruses if on poorly-drained soil or if carried over to a second year. Therefore, farmers favor biennial plantings. Bacterial leaf spot (
XanthomonasXanthomonas is a genus of Proteobacteria, many of which cause plant diseases.Most are available from the NCPPB in the United Kingdom and other international culture collections such as ICMP in Belgium, CFBP in France, and VKM in Russia....
spp.) occurs in Queensland. A strain of
tobacco mosaicTobacco mosaic virus is an RNA virus that infects plants, especially tobacco and other members of the family Solanaceae. The infection causes characteristic patterns on the leaves . TMV was the first virus to be discovered...
may affect plants in India . In New Zealand plants can be infected by
CandidatusCandidatus is in scientific classification a component of the taxonomic name for a bacterium that cannot be maintained in a Bacteriology Culture Collection. It is an interim taxonomic status for noncultivable organisms. An example would be "Candidatus Phytoplasma allocasuarinae"...
Liberibacter solanacearum'
Culinary uses
It has recently been cultivated in
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, yielding produce with an appealing flavor and aroma (compared with the tropically grown fruit), a direct consequence of the large temperature difference between day and night found in southern
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
. However, fruit is produced there from December to May only.
Organic dried or fresh Physalis fruit of various geographic origins can now be found at some fruit stands, grocery stores and natural health food stores.