Sunday, June 13, 2010

Around the Garden

I'm not sure if anyone has 
grown tomatillos 


From Wikipedia:

The tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica)
 is a plant of the nightshade  family
, related to the cape gooseberry, bearing small,
 spherical and green or green-purple
 fruit of the same name. 
Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato 
(Spanish: tomate verde
in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine.
 Tomatillos are grown throughout
 the Western Hemisphere. 
The tomatillo is a variety of tomato,
 and is in the same family.

The tomatillo fruit is surrounded
 by a paper-like husk formed from the calyx.


 As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. 
The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be any of a number
 of colors when ripe,
 including yellow, red, green, or even purple. 


Tomatillos are the key ingredient 
in fresh and cooked Latin American green sauces
I lived 20+yrs in AZ and used tomatillos
in cooking 
but I have never grown any 
so this is a unique venture for me!

I started to weed
 my strawberry patch today
I planted 3 new plants this year



Now strawberries in an of themselves
is no big deal but these 
are so very very small
and I" knew I
didn't plant any mini strawberries


My hsb tasted one
no flavor
I guess they are wild strawberries
how odd they are growing in
my patch













7 comments:

  1. Okay Jo, when you harvest your tomatillos, I hope you'll save one for me! I would love to add one to my homemade salsa. I have some New Mexico green chiles in the freezer. I covet that stuff and hoard it til I can have it shipped to me in September. Give me a call tomorrow night so we can firm up our plans for Tuesday morning. hugs, Sue

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  2. Hi Jo! Oh, those little tomatillos are so cute! Look like little balloons! Now strawberries! That's right up my alley! Yum.
    Hope you've had a great weekend.
    Be a sweetie,
    Shelia ;)

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  3. A very interesting vegetable. i may have to try growing these.

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  4. Thank you for the information on the tomatillos, i had never heard of them before... Always great to learn something new!

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  5. I bet you will have some delicious salsa with those tomatillos!

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  6. I use tomatillos in my cooking, but never thought to grow them. I will have to check to see how well they will grow in my area and hopefully I will be able to add them to my list for my garden next year.

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  7. Your tomatillos and strawberries look great. This is the first I have heard of tomatillos. Thansk for sharing.

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