Bloated bellows Physalis alkekengi, popularly grown in gardens and allotments, creates characteristic red lanterns in the summer and autumn period. This species belongs to the Solanaceae family, like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers. The bloated moth is a perennial, which is its additional advantage.Its usable part consists of small fruits, covered with an extremely enlarged and distended calyx, although they are most often used as an addition to dry bouquets.
Growing a bloated cuppa is not difficult - the plant prefers light, fertile soil and sunny positions.Initially, after planting, it is important to protect against weeds and low temperatures, later there is no such need. This species is quite resistant to diseases and pests.It can be propagated by dividing rhizomes or traditionally by sowing seeds.
Peruvian Mushroom
Other species of the orchid are gaining more and more popularity in our country: the Peruvian orchid Physalis peruviana, also known as the Brazilian currant, and the tomato orchid Physalis philadelphica.It is true that they do not have as high ornamental value as the bloated phyllos, but they compensate for this loss with larger edible fruits.
The Peruvian Mushroom is also a perennial, but in our climatic conditions it is grown as an annual plant and, like other nightshades, it is grown only from seedlings. The plant produces fruits weighing a few grams, orange-yellow in color, also surrounded by a parchment calyx similar in size to the calyx of a distended bellows.
Its fruit is much sweeter, with an interesting flavor - slightly tomato and fruit.Some people smell strawberry in it, others banana. For this reason, it is a valuable product used in the production of jams. Fruits are eaten raw or processed, they are added to fruit salads and desserts.
On the other hand, the tomato mushroom, which is an annual plant, is used more as a vegetable, and is usually eaten after heat treatment due to the unattractive taste of raw fruit. Its fruits are much larger, weighing up to 60-80 g, surrounded by a leathery shell, which cracks as the fruit grows and matures and begins to stick to it tightly.The fruit of the tomatoes is green-yellow and covered with a waxy coating.They taste good with other vegetables, especially zucchini or tomatoes, and are used as an addition to various sauces.
Plants belonging to these species grow up to a maximum of 1.5 m, but are usually shorter.Their shoots are slender and quite delicate, it is worth leading them near the wires, because these bellows create a large number of side shoots, which are usually not removed. Plants are grown from mid-May to September, they bloom and bear fruit until the first frost, then they die off.Ripening fruits of the tomato cupola have a tendency to fall to the ground, so they should be harvested successively.
The nutritional requirements of Peruvian and tomato papaya are similar, but higher than those of the bloated papaya. The likes of the position are like that of a bloated girl. Like other nightshades, they have high thermal and water needs.
What are the fruits of the cupcake?
Few people know that the fruit of the distended phyllum is edible, provided that it is fully ripe. They can be used as a medicinal raw material - they are rich in mucilages, fruit acids (malic, citric, ascorbic), steroid glycosides, physalin, pectins, etc.Fisalin has hypoglycemic (blood sugar lowering), anti-inflammatory and immunostimulatory properties.The fruit can be eaten raw or dried (max. 50 ° C), as well as processed (suitable for jams, jellies , tinctures).Although they are less sweet than the fruit of the Peruvian apple, also known as the Brazilian raisin, they can be properly sweetened.
