Cape Gooseberry – 50 Seeds

Cape Gooseberry Seeds. Physalis peruviana, edulis is also known as Inca Berry and “appelliefie” in Afrikaans. This berry plant is a tender perennial which can grow up to a height of  about 1m. It is a useful small crop for the home garden, because the fruit is expensive to purchase as it is labor-intensive in commercial plantings.

Gooseberry is very easy to grow from seed and it can overwinter outdoors in mild areas or when grown in favored positions such as the foot of a sunny wall.

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Cape Gooseberry Culinary Uses

• In addition to being canned whole and preserved as jam, the cape gooseberry is made into sauce, used in pies, puddings, chutneys and ice cream, and eaten fresh in fruit salads and fruit cocktails.
• In Colombia, the fruits are stewed with honey and eaten as dessert.
• The British use the husk as a handle for dipping the fruit in icing.
• The ripe fruits are considered a good source of Vitamin P and are rich in pectin.

Toxicity – Unripe fruits are poisonous.

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Cape Gooseberry Other Uses

Fruits: In the 18th Century, the fruits were perfumed and worn for adornment by native women in Peru.

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Cape Gooseberry Medicinal Benefits

• In Colombia, the leaf decoction is taken as a diuretic and antiasthmatic.
• In South Africa, the heated leaves are applied as poultices on inflammations and the Zulus administer the leaf infusion as an enema to relieve abdominal ailments in children.

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Growing Cape Gooseberry

Indoor Sowing: Late Winter.

Direct Sowing:  Spring.

• Start  Gooseberry Seeds indoors 6 – 8 weeks before the end of frost season or direct sow in Spring.
• Best planted at soil temperatures between 10°C and 25°C.
• Fill the seed tray with moist seedling growing medium. Press down firmly and level.
• Scatter seeds evenly over the surface.
• Cover the seeds with a fine layer of soil (no more than 5mm deep). Alternatively, use vermiculite as a covering.
• Press or firm down once again to keep the seeds in place.
• Water well and keep the tray in a warm, sheltered position for germination to take place.
• Transplant seedlings, when they are about 10cm tall, into well prepared garden beds. Space them 90cm apart.
• They take approximately 180 days from sowing to harvest.