This year I grew Aunt Molly's and Cape Gooseberry first time. Either they did not grow right or they are just supposed to be so bad.

the fruit (inside the husk) on both is just the size of a large pea, very tough skin and just a sac of seeds and nothing else. I was very disappointed. I thought this fruit is like a very small tomatillo but sweet.

That's odd. I've grown Aunt Molly's and found it pretty good. Maybe it was too hot and dry during fruit formation and ripening?

I wonder if ground cherries, unlike tomatillos, are best adapted to cooler climates? Mine had berries 1/2"-3/4" wide. There are wild perennial ground cherries in the surrounding area, and even they get berries about 1/2" wide (if the voles or squirrels don't get them).

While I've grown both "Aunt Molly's" and "Cossack Pineapple", they were grown in different years, so there was never a side-by-side comparison. To me they both tasted pretty much the same... and I never felt inclined to eat more than a few at any given time. All I ever did was eat them raw, though, after they had sat on the counter for a couple weeks to fully ripen. Still have some old seed for CP that I hope to grow for renewal next year, I'll have to try some recipes if I get enough fruit to bother with.

I grew Aunt Molly's last year and it was highly productive making 1/2 to 3/4 inch fruits. I never really got to where I liked the flavor pineapple/pea mixture with a slight skunky aftertaste. I made some bread and a pie but I still didn't like them.
This year I have had hundreds of volunteers and although I pulled most of them I left a few because I want to try them in pico de gallo. I think the pineapple flavor would be great in a salsa and maybe the onion or garlic would help with the off flavors?
Any way plan to leave some room for the plants they tend to stay low to the ground and spread out to at least 1 meter diameter.

"The flavor pineapple/pea mixture with a slight skunky aftertaste."

That just sounds delicious. haha

Rodney

I tried Aunt Molly's and Cossak Pineapple in a comparison and they tasted the same to me. As for yield, never had much success. Sure, they made tons of fruit but the fruit never ripened. After a couple of years of pulling open fruit after fruit that remained stubbornly green and bitter for months after falling off the plant I just gave up on them this year. I saved a few volunteers since the chickens seem to enjoy them.

I grew Cossack Pineapple last year, and it's the only kind I've ever tried, so I'm not exactly answering the question...but I think they have a fabulous flavor. I can see how other people might not like them, though. It's a strong flavor...perfumy. You have, have, have to wait for them to actually fall off the plant. That's when they are perfectly ripe and should be brought inside. I would not pick them off the plant and wait for them to ripen.

I started them from seed kind of late in the season and got a really good harvest during the late summer/fall. They're a lot like miniature tomatillo plants.

The first year I grew ground cherries, I used transplants... but after that, they volunteered every year on their own. The volunteers were only slightly later than transplants, because although they came up later, their growth was uninterrupted by transplant shock. If I tried to move the volunteers, however, they were greatly weakened, and sometimes died. IMO, ground cherries are more sensitive to root disturbance than tomatoes, peppers, or eggplant.

When I moved my garden to a new location in 2005, I left the ground cherries (and volunteer dill) behind. I hope to repatriate both to my new plot next year, weather permitting (which seems to be a big "if" in recent years).

"You have to wait for them to fall off and they will be perfectly ripe"

Apparently my plants didn't get that memo! :) The fruit that fall off of mine is always a mix of a few ripe and many unripe. Too bad, I did like the flavor of the ripe ones.

I'm growing 127 Cossack Pineapple, 16 Cape Gooseberry and 16 Goldie plants this year.

"I'm growing 127 Cossack Pineapple, 16 Cape Gooseberry and 16 Goldie plants this year."

My eyes glazed over after "127". Yikes!!! That will be a lot of bent over, off the ground harvesting... and you'll need to do it often. Chances are that you will need to control rodents somehow, even in my small planting I found many chewed, empty husks. They eat the ripest ones first, probably attracted by the smell.

Yes, I think I went a little overboard this year ;-). I had rodents in mind when I planted so many, since I know I'm going to lose some of the fruit. They even went after my beets and turnips and chewed a hole through the side of my tunnel to get in. Inside the tunnels, where I have 48 ground cherry plants, I'm going to set a lot of traps baited with PB and hope they find PB more attractive. The crows could do with a meaty snack, right? Outside, I'll just hope for the best - there are lots of hawks and feral cats on patrol.