The cape gooseberry, or Physalis, looks like a miniature, brightly coloured tomatillo. The two are, in fact, related - both fruits belong to the nightshade family. The cape gooseberry and tomatillo both have a thin, papery husk that is easy to remove by peeling it back from the fruit and pulling it off at the stem end. The fruits have a similar texture and seedy flesh but the cape gooseberry is sweet-tart and used most often for desserts while the tomatillo is sour, and therefore used in savoury preparations.
The cape gooseberry's bright orange-yellow fruit is about the size of a cherry. It doesn't have the most distinctive flavour and some people find the texture unpleasant because of the abundance of tiny, crunchy, edible seeds. When buying cape gooseberries, check the husks, which should be pliable, rather than brittle, and the fruit should be firm, smooth and glossy, rather than shrivelled.
Cape gooseberries are considered to be healthy, being high in antioxidants and some essential vitamins.
For an easy sorbet, remove and discard the husks from the cape gooseberries then rinse the fruit thoroughly (the skin can be quite sticky). Pur?e the fruit in a food processor. Measure the pur?e and add in two-thirds the amount of sugar syrup (dissolve 400 grams granulated sugar into 600ml boiling water then cool to room temperature, pour into clean bottles and chill). Whisk in fresh lemon juice to taste then add a splash of vodka and a small amount of egg white (these improve the texture of the sorbet). Process the mixture in an ice-cream machine then freeze until it's time to serve.
My favourite preparation for Physalis is to dip it in a not-too-dark caramel - the bittersweet caramel complements the sweet-tart flavour of the fruit. Other types of caramel-dipped fruit last only for a brief time because moisture from the fruit turns the caramel to liquid. The skin of the cape gooseberry holds in the moisture and the caramel-dipped fruit can keep for a day or two, as long as it's stored in an airtight container (prefer- ably with small packs of desiccant). Dissolve granulated sugar in water in a saucepan and heat until it boils. Use a wet pastry brush to wash the sugar crystals from the sides of the pan. Cook the mixture until light amber (no darker, or it will be too bitter) then remove from the heat and put the base of the pan into a bowl of ice water, to stop the caramel from cooking further. Pull the papery husks back from the fruit but leave it intact. Use the husks as a handle and carefully dip the fruit into the caramel then place them on a parchment-lined baking tray. Cool completely then store in an airtight container at room temperature.