What a lovely mixture of flavors this tasty jam has. We offer a vegan version, without honey, yet full of the sweet sour flavor of the ground cherry and the mild aromatic flavor of chamomile. I think this has become our favorite jam, even over raspberry. Ground Cherries are known by various names like Cape Gooseberries or Physalis, and this year we grew them for the first time in our garden.

Ground Cherry & Chamomile Jam

Yield: 2 cups

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups ground cherries, removed from husks and washed
  • 2&1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2-1 lemon, juiced
  • 1 cup chamomile tea

Ground Cherries Ground Cherry & Chamomile Jam Ground Cherry & Chamomile Jam

Directions:

  1. Remove the ground cherries from their husks and wash.
  2. Combine the sugar, water and lemon juice in a pot and bring to a boil.
  3. Add the ground cherries and allow to simmer until the cherries have burst open.
  4. Remove the pot from the heat and smash the fruit to insure that it is an even consistency.
  5. If you find the small seeds unattractive in your jam, then you can push the mixture through a fine sieve, however I would say that these seeds are so small, they are not a problem in the jam.
  6. Return the pot to the heat, add the chamomile tea and bring to a boil to cook down to the proper consistence.

Notes:

adapted from http://davidmatthew.wordpress.com/(…)