I need some help people - I found this fruit in the market yesterday and immediately bought it because it looked so beautiful!
Plump yellowish orange berries in bunches, tart and sweet to taste - but I have no clue what they are - the vendor called them "ras berries".....which first sounded like raspberries to me - which I know they are not.
I'm sure this is something very common which I should know, and once one of y'all tells me what it is I'm going to feel extremely foolish...sigh....
ETA: Thanks so much everyone! especially Sra, anonymous,Bindiya,Vimmi and Latha who pointed me in the right direction! These are cape gooseberries then - also called "rasbhari" locally. I found more about this here
The article said
Also known as physalis, this is a small, smooth round fruit wrapped in its own papery case that resembles a Chinese lantern. The fruit itself is a pretty orange-gold colour and can be unwrapped and eaten as is, or dipped in melted chocolate and served after dinner with coffee. They have a delicate sweet-sour taste - sort of a cross between a gooseberry and a cherry tomato. They make excellent jams, jellies and purées, and can be used in exotic fruit salads, pavlovas or roulades, or simmered in water with a little sugar and used in fruit pies or crumbles.
I was also pointed here where Deeba has made some beautiful fruit kabobs!
And now that I found what it was called I found this lovely informative post on Cooks Cottage where she says it is also called "Lucknow ki Pitari" / "Makowi" in North India and "popati" in Marathi and that they have medicinal properties besides being chockfull of pro vitamins! AND best of all she has a recipe for an Upside down cake she made!!! Yaay!
I'm going to try it as soon as I get my hands on some more....she said popping the last of the berries into her mouth as she sat typing this post.
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26 comments:
they look like yellow tomatoes to me!
it is a raspberry indeed....can be used in desserts/ jams or squashes....depending on the tartness, sugar to make any of the above may be used....
There r also yellow raspberries,but this is looking smooth...
I think this is tomato;D
gooseberries if they had a light greenish outer cover..
how do they taste..like fruity..tart...i think that might help to zero in!!
Hii
I saw it yesterday in shoprite, but didnt buy as I am seeing/hearing it for the first time .It is definetely not raspberries. I dont exactly remember its name, but if my memory is right it is honeybell. I remember reading that it is used mainly for salads.
- Nikki
Its not a raspberry that I have checked....and just wanted to clarify that these are tied together in bunches and don't naturally come in bunches. They are each at the end of a flower (which is now dried up and papery thin so dont know how it actually looks when its fresh)
Nikki, I checked out honeybell but it says that they are a variety of oranges....
Rajitha they taste sweet and a bit sour - nice and juicy....
In mumbai its called rasberry . I know this bocs my mom would get it all the time. It is covered with a browinish yellow paper like cover. Here rasberry is different. I think in mumbai they just call it by that name.
these are cape gooseberries,you can make delicious jam out of these.
http://passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com/2008/01/colourful-fruit-kabobscape-gooseberry.html
check out this link
hi! check out passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com. Deeba has explained what fruit this is and also a recipe to follow:)
Miri, I think these are cape gooseberries, your comment about the papery casing reminded me. They are not very common in India, as far as I know. I've only seen them in gourmet stores. To confirm, run a check in Google Images, you may find they are the same. (That's what I did just before posting this comment.)
I had seen these in india.. the local 'bhaiya' called it 'ras bhari'!!!
Cape gooseberry...In hindi, it is known as "rasbhari".
they are called "physalis" or cape gooseberries, ground cherries, golden berries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physalis
they are generally dipped in fondant icing and served as dessert
Thanks everyone for your help - I have learnt something new once again!
oh they're physalis... here we get them with the skin intact so i couldn't quite recognise:) they've a taste one must get used to:)
Hi Miri...WOW, some discussion about our very own 'rasbharis'! Its a great post you've written, & I love the coincidence that we both wrote something about the cape gooseberry at the same time! Thanks to Vimmi, we found each other. I'm off to Cooks Cottage to check out the upside down cake!
I know Deeba! what a coincidence! good one!! Thanks!
I've been trying to get to your blog since your post came up... to tell you that these are cape gooseberries :) but I'm late... your blog just didn't open!!
Thanks for trying Raaga! Not sure why my blog didn't open...
In northern India they are indeed called rasbhari, which is easy to confuse with raspberry. Ras = Juice, Bhari = Filled. Rasbhari = "Filled with Juice." Cape Gooseberry is also the English name that I have heard. Raspberries are slowing being grown in the foothills nowadays, but aren't that big in India, so lots of people in India think this is what a raspberry is. It also doesn't help that the husk around it really does make a "rasping" sound when you touch it.
As you have experienced, the taste is fantastic. Nothing else is quite like it. It tastes absolutely nothing like a tomato. I think the "cape" in cape gooseberry is the cape of good hope (south africa).
I am eating some right now! ;-)
The less ripe ones taste a bit tomatoey to me, whereas the mid-ripe ones taste like nectarines, and the fully: ripe ones taste like vanilla. Magical!
there r mul berries.. we get it in mahabaleshwar... it comes with the cover (like tomatillos...) or it can also be yellow tomatoes...
Hi Miri,
Thanks for the link to my upside down cake. I make jam every year from this as well which always turns out super.
yes they are "Ras Berries" it is also called as "Rasbhari".and it a common fruit of North india i my childhood i had ate so many "Ras Berries" at Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
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