Cape gooseberry 'Schönbrunner Gold' (Physalis peruviana) - The sweet XXL snack fruit

Forget the small, often sour physalis from the supermarket! With 'Schönbrunner Gold,' you're bringing the absolute premium variety into your garden or onto your balcony. It stands out with extra-large, bright orange berries and an incomparably sweet, exotic aroma with a fine coconut-pineapple note. An absolute must for anyone with a sweet tooth!

Scope of delivery: One young plant in a 7cm pot

Growth & Appearance

• Lifespan: Perennial (if overwintered frost-free), but often cultivated as an annual.

• Growth height: This plant is a true growth marvel and can reach a good 1.5 to 2 meters in height and almost as wide!

• Habit: Forms a very highly branched, spreading bush. The heart-shaped leaves are softly hairy and feel slightly sticky.

• Flower & Fruit: The typical papery lanterns develop from pretty, yellow flowers with a brown center. Inside, the coveted, cherry-sized, bright orange berries ripen.

Origin The wild form originates from the high altitudes of the South American Andes (Peru, Chile). However, this special elite variety was bred and refined in Austria at the Federal College and Research Institute for Horticulture in Schönbrunn (Vienna).

Ingredients (An IMPORTANT WARNING beforehand) The ripe berries are true vitamin bombs, packed with Vitamin C, B vitamins, iron, and beta-carotene.

• Caution, nightshade plant: All green plant parts as well as the unripe (still green) berries contain toxic solanine and cause stomach upset! Only fully ripe, deep orange fruits should be eaten, when the surrounding lantern has already turned light brown and dried out.

Usage

• In the kitchen: Straight from the bush into your mouth – there's hardly any better snack fruit! Perfect for fruit salads, as an elegant decoration on desserts and cakes, or cooked into incredibly delicious, exotic jam.

• Storage: Thanks to the protective lantern, intact, ripe fruits can often be stored for weeks in a dry, cool place (10 to 15 °C) without spoiling! But beware: damaged fruits mold in no time.

Historical & Curious It owes its second name "Cape Gooseberry" to Portuguese seafarers. They brought the plant from South America at the beginning of the 19th century and cultivated it extensively at the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa to prevent scurvy, the dreaded vitamin deficiency disease, on their long sea voyages.

Location, Care & Gardener's Tips (Please don't treat it like a tomato!)

• Location: Full sun! The more sun it gets, the sweeter the berries will be.

• Pot size: In a pot, it needs plenty of space. A pot with a minimum volume of 20 to 30 liters is essential so that it doesn't tip over in every gust of wind and can store enough water.

• Watering & Fertilizing (Less is more!): It is very thirsty, but extreme caution is advised when fertilizing! Too much nitrogen (fertilizer) will cause it to produce only meters of foliage but hardly any flowers and fruits. Plant it in good soil and then fertilize very sparingly.

• Do not prune! Unlike tomatoes, physalis must under no circumstances be pruned! The flowers develop precisely in the leaf axils of the new shoots. If you pinch them off here, you deprive yourself of your harvest.

• Overwintering: Since the plant flowers and ripens late in the year, overwintering is extremely worthwhile! Cut the plant back by about two-thirds before the first frost and place it in a bright, cool location (approx. 10–15 °C). The following year, it will sprout earlier and provide a significantly earlier and gigantic harvest.

Anyone who has ever tasted this variety fresh from their own bush will only smile pityingly at the hard, sour mini-balls in plastic containers at the supermarket. The 'Schönbrunner Gold' is not just a physalis – it's a sprawling fruit gum factory on a stick!

The "Schönbrunner Gold Rush" – Quick Physalis Almond Crumble

If, contrary to expectations, you haven't snacked on all the berries directly from the bush after harvesting, this lightning-fast recipe is absolutely amazing. The slight acidity and coconut-pineapple aroma of the hot physalis blend here with crispy butter crumbles. Highly addictive!

What you need (for 2-3 sweet tooths):

• Approx. 300 g fully ripe 'Schönbrunner Gold' physalis (freed from their lanterns)

• 1 sachet of vanilla sugar

• 100 g flour

• 50 g ground almonds (or hazelnuts)

• 80 g cold butter (in small cubes)

• 50 g sugar

• A pinch of salt

• Optional upgrade: A generous scoop of vanilla ice cream!

It's that simple:

1. The liquid gold: Wash the physalis, halve them, and place them in a small, buttered baking dish. Sprinkle the vanilla sugar evenly over them and mix briefly.

2. The crumble escalation: Put the flour, ground almonds, sugar, the pinch of salt, and the cold butter cubes into a bowl. Now comes the best part: quickly knead everything with your hands into thick, rustic crumbles.

3. Cover & into the oven: Distribute the crumbles generously over the halved berries. The whole thing now goes into the preheated oven for approx. 25 minutes at 200 °C (top/bottom heat) until the crumbles are golden brown and crispy and the yellow physalis juice is bubbling enticingly at the edge.

4. The indulgence: Best served hot! If you now add a scoop of ice-cold vanilla ice cream to the warm crumble, you have reached absolute dessert heaven.