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Dessert
American
8 - 10 servings
5 minutes
25 minutes
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
4 small lemons
1½ pint Cape and Capeless Gooseberries
Combine the sugar and water, bring to a boil, and boil 8 to 10 minutes. Add the lemon and ground-cherries and cook 5 minutes, until the ground-cherries are just cooked through, about 12 minutes in all. Cool in the syrup.
Serve as a topping for ice cream, or serve warm over sponge cake or angel cake with whipped cream.
Surprisingly little known nowadays, Cape Gooseberries or ground-cherries used to be one of the more common fruits and still are one of the more delicious. They grow wild throughout a great part of the country and are cultivated in Pennsylvania and the West. In Europe, where there are many different types -- they all belong to the genus Physalis -- they are eaten raw and used for compotes. In Australia, where the larger ones are called Cape gooseberries, they are canned and shipped to the rest of the world. Ground-cherries make wonderful pocket fruit, for each one is securely packed in its own little husk. When eaten raw they are refreshingly sweet and rich. It is mystifying to me that they are not more prized.
