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Cape gooseberry produces fruit until November

Radek Štěpán 13. 11. 2025 1 views

The range of plants in European gardens has been changing to some extent. You may see plants or crops that have never been typical for our climate, but they seem to be doing great anyway. A great example is the very popular Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), probably thanks to great fruit and elegant appearance. Flowers shaped like lanterns looks exotic and beautiful. This plant bears fruit until November but we have harvested few days ago as you can see in the photos below.

Inca cherry from the Cape of Good Hope

The name and the origin seem a logical choice. Cape gooseberry is most often found in South America, mainly in Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, or Venezuela but now it also grows in many European countries and Asia. It does great in Europe, even without a greenhouse and happily grows outdoors. We managed to grow a solid bush with lots of fruit.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Easy cultivation

This annual plant requires almost no care and that is great. In South America the shrub can easily reach a height of two meters. Our shrub is about half meter smaller, but it is rich and branched well. It produces typical yellow flowers, which turn into lantern-like shelves that contain yellow to light brown berries. Be careful and do not eat unripe berries. They can be toxic.If you want to grow Cape gooseberries, buy seedlings and plant them in the spring when there is no longer any threat of frost. The shrub loves temperature from 16 to 25°C. All you need to do is to water from time to time and that is it. You can pluck off suckers just like you would do with tomatoes. We didn’t do that, but the harvest was great anyway.

Photo: Radek Štěpán

Plenty of uses

Berries are excellent when eaten immediately. The taste seems to be a kind of blend between sour pineapple, strawberries and other fruits. The taste is quite specific. Berries are often used as a decoration on sweets and cakes. People also brew an excellent tea from berries or add them to yogurts and milkshakes. The great thing is that you can harvest berries all summer long and even now in autumn. Until frosts hit.