A masked berry sports Halloween’s bright orange hues. The cape gooseberry glows under its gossamer mask, happy to wait until you uncover its charms.

 

We’re exploring this beautiful masked fruit, pushing its flavors from one edge of the palate to the other.

 

It may remind you of a tomatillo, its green colored cousin. They are both juicy orbs inside paper-thin masks. But the cape gooseberry (physalis peruviana) is more floral, delivering a complex sweet and sour rush. It flouts notes reminiscent of tomato, so it can swing savory, and it sings pineapple melodies, so it can fine tune a grande finale.

Photo: Courtesy of Beautiful Capture.

This autumn jewel is indigenous to South America -- it’s also known as the Peruvian groundcherry. But it moved around the world with 19th century merchant and pirate ships and set down roots in South Africa, where it picked up its most common name from the Cape of Good Hope. China, India, Turkey, Thailand, and Egypt all have different names for the physalis and each teases it into its own direction.

Photo: Courtesy of Veggie Delight.

The cape gooseberry is an unsung superhero food. It contains significant levels of melatonin. It is packed with polyphenols and carotenoids, so offers the antioxidant/anitinflammatory favor. Studies point to this fruit’s abilities to combat lung cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and neurodegenerative disease. Might it be the next pomegranate?

Photo: Courtesy of Lu’s Pix.

The mask, which is the plant’s calyx, grows around the berry, completely enveloping it, offering both protection and intrigue. Once picked, if you leave the fruit unmasked, it can stay fresh at room temperature for over a month.

Photo: TeresalaLoba.

So push them towards dessert -- dip them in dark chocolate or seduce them into a pastry filling. Or push them towards savory, as they pluck the chords of a crisp duck, an unctuous pork belly, a barbecued salmon, or a rich cheese plate.

Photo: Wildcraft Vita.

You could simply push back its papery mask, like Wildcraft Vita does, to form a handle, dip into molten dark chocolate and let the new sweet mask harden. Dip a few times to build up a strong shell.  

Photo: Courtesy of Eat and Dust. Cape Gooseberry Tarte Tatin.

If you want to put a little bit more effort in, you can pretty easily rock this gorgeous and unusual tarte tatin. Eat and Dustsupplied the recipe. It's a treasure.

 

CAPE GOOSEBERRY TARTE TATIN

 

 

Serves 6

 

Puff Pastry or Eat and Dust Pastry.

 

Cape Gooseberry Filling

 

• 400g cape gooseberries, paper casings removed and washed

• 100g caster sugar

• 60g unsalted butter

• 1 vanilla pod

 

You will need a 20-23cm tin or dish that is happy both on the stove and in the oven.

 

In the oven-proof and flameproof shallow pie tin, melt the butter and sugar. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways and scrape the seeds into the tin. Cook until a caramel begins to form. Tip the cape gooseberries in and coat with the caramel. Make sure you use enough fruit so it’s tightly packed on the bottom of the tin—this will improve the appearance of the finished tart. Let the fruit cook for a few minutes to release some of its juice into the caramel.

 

Then let the caramel bubble long enough to thicken, a couple of minutes—stop before the fruit darkens or gets soggy. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Photo: Courtesy of EastbayRI. Dwarf Cape Gooseberry.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry to a little larger than the tin. Carefully lift the pastry and place on top of the fruit. Press the edges down to encase the fruit.

 

Bake the tart for about 30 minutes until the pastry is nice and brown.

 

Let the tart cool for a minute or two, then take a plate that is larger than the tin and place it face down over the tart. Carefully flip the tart on to the plate and remove the tin. The cape gooseberries should now have formed a wonderfully sunny, caramelized topping. If any of the cape gooseberries has rolled out of position, just push it back so that the fruit is evenly distributed over the pastry.

 

Serve warm with crème fraîche.

Photo: Courtesy of This Modern Wife. Gooseberry Pear Jam.

When you’ve got extraordinary jam, you want to do more than just spread it on toast. Cape Gooseberry and Pear Jam, from This Modern Wife, is one you want to show off in cookie and pastry emebellishments. Heck, you can make a jam tart out if it. Slather it between cake layers, make a killer yogurt cup, drip it into a champagne cocktail, let it shine.

Cape Gooseberry and Pear Jam

Makes about seven 8-ounce jars

 

• 3 cups crushed cape gooseberries

• 3/4 cups peeled, chopped pears

• juice of 1 lemon (at least 3 tablespoons)

• 6 cups sugar

• 1 pouch of liquid pectin
   

If you are planning to do a proper canning, sterilize your jars and lids, and get the system prepped.
 

1. In a large, deep stainless steel or cast iron pan, combine pears, gooseberries, lemon juice and sugar over high heat. Bring the mixture to a full rolling boil that cannot be stirred down. Stir in pectin and then boil hard, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam if needed.

2. Ladle hot jam into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. If you are not canning, cool, then store in fridge.

3. If you are canning, place jars in canner making sure they are completely covered with water. Bring water to boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars and cool on a kitchen towel before storing.
    

Photo: Courtesy of Tomorrow We Leave.

 

Read about Beautiful Masks all this week, as they relate to Arts/Design, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including The Top 10 Most Beautiful Masks, and Is This Really Happening?.
 

Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Masks. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 11.03.13.

Photo: Courtesy of InterActiveMediaSW.

Also, check out our special competition: The Most Beautiful Sound in the World, which opens for entries today! We are thrilled about this effort, together with SoundCloud and The Sound Agency. And we can’t wait to hear what you’ve got!