Columbus Foodie

One of the things that I’ve been picking up every week at the farmer’s markets (from Wayward Seed Farms in particular) is ground cherries - after trying them for the first time at Alana’s, I discovered how tasty they were just to pop them in your mouth for a snack. However, mouth popping gets old, and this week I wanted to find a way to use them in a recipe.

As it’s not a very popular fruit, there weren’t a ton of recipes available online, but once I saw old Mennonite recipe for ground cherry pie, I knew I’d have to try it this way. Unfortunately, I only had a pint of ground cherries (this recipe needs about 2-3 pints), so I improvised and made little mini-pies with free form crusts in ramekins. I cut the crumb/sugar by about half, and used store-bought pie crust. It’s easily one of the best pies I’ve ever had. The ground cherries, at least in this incarnation, have a peachy/pineappley taste. I am going to go out of my way to buy multiple pints of ground cherries next week so I can make a full-sized pie.

Ground Cherry Pie
recipe courtesy AllRecipes

2 1/2 cups ground cherries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
1 (9 inch) pie shell

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons butter

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Wash ground cherries and place in unbaked pie shell. Mix brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour and sprinkle over cherries. Sprinkle water over top. Mix together 3 tablespoons flour and 3 tablespoons sugar. Cut butter in until crumbly. Top cherry mixture with crumbs.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and continue to bake for 25 minutes.