This berry is a superfood and grows on the balcony

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It looks a bit like a cherry tomato but is yellower, sweeter and a real vitamin bomb. The Andean fruit, also known as Physalis, is one of Blick horticulturalist Scarlet Allenspach’s (35) balcony favorites: “It’s very decorative with its lantern, and it tastes good too. I collect a few berries for breakfast every day in the summer.”

There are many ways to enjoy glowing fruit: for example, as a strong snack – fresh in fruit salad, muesli or smoothie – or in jam, ice cream or sauces. Some dry them and eat them in the winter to strengthen the immune system. Because mulberry provides important minerals and vitamins such as A, C, E and various B vitamins. And it is rich in iron. “Fruit detoxifies, reduces stress and even provides a good night’s sleep. All this at a low-calorie rate,” says Urbanroots founder. So it’s superfood at its best.

power of the incas

It goes without saying that the sweet and sour fruit hails from the Andes. The first sailors brought them to the southern cape of Africa. For this reason, it is also called gooseberry. Today it is valued on all continents and is also known as Andean cherry, pineapple cherry, Peruvian cherry or Inca fruit, depending on the region. Good to know: Andean fruit is similar to the natural ornamental physalis (lantern flower), which can be somewhat poisonous. You can distinguish its edible and decorative twin by the color of the lanterns in which the fruits are preserved. In the case of edible physalis they are beige when ripe and intensely light red in the case of ornamental physalis.

DIY instructions

Fill about four growing pots with soil and place them in saucers.

Using a pencil, make a small hole about 5mm deep in the middle, put a seed in it and cover it.

Place the plate in the warmest place in the apartment, preferably on the window sill above the heater. Seeds germinate at 20 degrees, optimally at 25 to 28 degrees. Of course they need light too. And water: so keep it moist at all times but don’t suffocate it.

Once the seedling has developed four to five leaves – which takes at least three weeks – it can be moved to a larger pot with a diameter of at least 10 centimeters. Water the growing pots briefly so the roots can grow better later. Then place it in the new pot and fill it with soil so that it reaches the bottom of the second pair of leaves.

From April (only from 10 degrees!) the young plant can be placed on the balcony during the day in penumbra, but you need to bring it indoors at night. In this way, it can get used to UV rays and does not get sunburned.

When the frost-free period comes, that is, from early to mid-May, Andean fruit is potted outside (pot diameter at least 30 centimeters). Mix some compost and optionally some sand under the soil. Andean fruit likes well-drained soil. Tip: Fill the bottom with some gravel to prevent flooding. Important: Please do not put cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes or eggplants in the same pot. But Andean fruit goes well with salad or beans.

Andean fruit likes it sunny and sheltered from the wind. Thus, it takes one of the warmest places on the balcony. Now place a trellis and cover the soil with mulch.

water regularly; but the plant also forgives you if you forget. As soon as the first green lanterns appear, you can pamper them with organic fertilizer once a month.

From mid-July, the first lanterns look like dried parchment and ripe yellow-orange berries glow. harvest time!

Source : Blick