Out-Of-The-Ordinary

First of all, the Ananaskers is what we call them...pineapple cherry. The Latin name is, Physalis. I think that the type of Physalis in this thread is the Physalis angulata, but I am not sure, as there are about 90 different species in the genus I believe. This plant is in the Solanaceae family (tomato's, potato's, etc).

At any rate, what prompted this posting was the fact that now is the time to harvest them here.
They were planted back in may, after the time when there was as good as no chance of frost. Three plants were planted and allowed to get on with growing.


You can see flower "bells" in various stages if you look carefully. Here is a bell almost ready for picking.


When one peels the bell-petals back the lovely yellow fruits are exposed.


These fruits are a bit sweetish with a noticeable tart overtone. In this country they are presently popular and expensive when served in restaurants or bought in the markets.

The second harvested plant that Y would like to show you tonight is the Phaseolus vulgaris ’Yin-Yang’ , or am folks here call them, "Yin-Yang Beans". They can be eaten fresh or dried to be soaked and eaten later.

The beans on the palm of the neighbour lady. You can perhaps see where the beans get their name.


Here, she has lifted the entire plants and hung them up in the rafters of her garden house to dry further before shelling them and saving the dried beans for next year.


These are two out-of-the-ordinary plants that are grown here. Folks on our complex do not grow these commonly, but....well, that's part of the charm of gardening--trying new things.

 

The first photos are of "ground cherries" or tomatillos, as they are called here. They are used in many Mexican dishes--especially salsa.
I agree about the charm of growing unusual vegetables. Right now we are trying a variety of Italian turnips.

 

Thanks MARLING--I was sure that they would have a name in english. Italian turnips.... Let me know how they turn out. Do you eat the foliage or are you going for the tuber only?

 

Hiya Eileen. They are easy to grow over here. They require little or no attention. Of course we here are on a longitudinal line with Norfolk which is well south of you; so I cannot say with certainty that it would do well where you live, but heck--I would give it a try.

 

The Italian turnips have small, slightly flattened tubers, and I suppose you can eat the greens also. Since this is the first time with Rapa di Milano Coletto, I can't say for sure!

 

I tried ground cherries a couple of years ago which is a type of gooseberry. Tomatillos are same family but larger. Neither did well here.

 

I have never seen the Ananaskers around here, but I did have them when I visited friends in Germany. They were sooooo good. I was hooked. I wish I can get some of those around here. I guess they would have to be taken indoors for the winter in my zone.
There was another fruit I had when I was there. It was kind of like a plum, but it was small, about the size of a cherry. Those were good too.

 

Thanks for the info, MG.

MART-- I was sorry to hear that the ananaskers did not do well for you there. Do you think that the prob was the heat, or perhaps the soil? That was too bad.

Well BEEKER-- I reckon that you may have to buy seeds then. They are readily available over here in the spring. They are annuals.
You plant the seeds in march inside on the window sill. and plant them outside after the middle of may when all chance of frost has past. You could possible harvest them into oktober and even november if your bed is up against a south-facing stone wall.
If you decide to try them we can talk and make plans.
I wonder what that fruit was that you tried in germany. What did it look like?

 

I was tempted to buy yin yang seeds this Spring but then I read in the description that the beans lose color once cooked, so bought the rattle snake bean seeds instead. Perhaps next season I will try yin yang just to display in a jar

 

Well, if you don't want to eat them...they are indeed interesting to look at.
If you are thinking of displaying them, would you do that in a glass jar with an interesting shape? would that jar also have sand in the bottom?...or perhaps some other sort of material?

I am interested to know because I find the display idea a good one.
Would your display be on a salon table (coffee table) or in a wall alcove with other attributes such as a small mandala and/or a small Buddha?--You know, some extras to compliment the beans.

For instance would the beans stand alone or be in a theme situation?

What an interesting idea you have.

 

Hi Sjored, the idea of displaying the beans in a glass jar came to me when I harvested some of the dried rattle snake ones recently. The rattle bean wine is very prolific and when we could not keep up with the regular picking we had plenty of dried beans as well. They are also very pretty to look at and admire. I figured I will display different dried beans on my kitchen island next year. Neat way to proudly display the harvest to family and friends throughout the year isn't it? I would share some pictures but I am still getting used to this new laptop that has windows 8, which I find little difficult to work with (being a technically challenged person that I am). Sadly during the summer vacation my kids crashed the hard disk of my older laptop and I lost about 4 years worth of pictures! Ironically, about two months back one of the kid dropped the external hard drive that had the backup of all the data and crashed that too . So, I have to make new memories now

 

S, I was at a farmstand this week and they had these for sale. I grew them for a friend a few years ago...but I didnt like them. Maybe it was the variety I had or maybe they weren't picked at the "right" ripe, but I thought they were bland. But I taste everything raw.. maybe I needed to do something different first? Like eggplant...raw?...blech... disgusting, puke! There are few things that really need cooked or baked first, I think. maybe these aren't for eating raw?

 

I purposely grew Aunt Polly's ground-cherries one year. I've had them ever since. They re-seed easily. I didn't like the flavor, although it did hold up well to other flavors in fruit salads. Jellied, canned, pies, no matter the method of preparation, I don't care for them.

Many people recall enjoying them when they were children, and now, don't care for them. I shall have to study upon that to learn why.

 

Hello GREEN--Well, it is an inspired idea. I completely agree that it is a really good way to display your harvest throughout the year...and you know there are so many different typs of beans that are quite striking to look at or talk about with friends and family.
Take what we call "Heilige bonen", or Holy Beans. Phaseolus vulgaris 'Monstrans'
They are white also with a small dark area near the scar that resembles a monstrance, or ostensorium. Do you know what that is? It is an article in which hosts are displayed. Some folks use the word Eucharist to denote the small wafer to be taken at communion.
At any rate these monstrances have several different shapes but they are all a bit similar. This shape is what is seen on the bean.
Other beans are Scarlet Runner Beans, Painted Lady. Anasazi beans, Black beans, Good Mother Stallard...the list go on. Bottom line: a great idea.
You've had some bad luck with computers and ext. hard disks. Holy Mackerel!
BTW--You ought to have a professional look into recovering stuff off your ruined HD's. I did oncew and was able to recover most of the contents.

Hiya C-- are you talking about the fruit or the beans? The fruit, huh. Yes, the is "different", and might take some getting used to. I am still weighing whether or not to plant enough to make a few post of jam with. Perhaps oin jam the flavour will be a bit more attractive to the "buds".

Mr. GUY--I understand what you are saying. Like I said, I find the flavour "different". I just can't decide if I like it enough to invest in the time or space to give them a serious try. My garden neighbour lady is wild about them, and her enthusiasm is infections. haha. I shall think about them further.Another factor here is time, in the sense of the length of a season. Hers were just barely beginning to ripen a couple of weeks ago. I am not sure that she will be able to harvest them all before it frosts.