Do you grow Tomatillo ?

[SarzWix]

Hugh F-W describes the flavour as a cross between tomato & grapefruit! He's not so far off with that description

The only other description I can think of is "tangy"

[Habanero]

The variety I grew last year was from Simpsons seeds called "Tomatillo Pineapple". I just reading the packet now and it says "small, sweet tellow fruit with a hint of pineapple". I certainly remember the pineapple taste.

I guess the taste is something like a fruity tomato. I am not sure if people eat them raw. I plan to make salsas, chutneys and dry fry them.

not even sure if they are available to buy canned in the average UK supermarket. I think they cost quite a bit to buy online from mexian stores.

e.g. Tomatillos - Mexican Food, Chillies & Recipes at MexGrocer.co.uk

thanks Alison - I will not hold back knowing i can freeze them well. I has still had lods of chillies in the freezer from summer 2006!

Good luck everybody!

[gojiberry]

Are tomatillos the same family as tomatoes, as I was wondering if they were prone to blight. Seeing as I lost all my tomatoes on the lottie last year this could be a good alternative.

[Chiana]

I'm pretty sure that they're not affected by blight, though I can't remember where I read it, so am happy to be corrected.
I have some saved seed if you would like me to send you some

[gojiberry]

Thanks a lot Chiana but I got two packets of seed from Wyvale for 25p each when they did there clear out of seeds in Oct.

[mapcr77]

I posted some Mexican recipes a while ago, and tomatillos, or "tomates" as we call them in Mexico -tomatoes are 'jitomates'- are basically used for making salsas (mostly verde, but there are others), so I've never eaten them 'on their own', so cannot actually describe their taste. Whatever you put on the salsa would change the overall flavour. Indeed they're quite tangy and I think they're sort of refreshing flavour, which goes great with lime when you add it to tacos. As for size, like some have said already, they get huge, but they're also quite prolific, so overall you get a decent crop from just a few plants.

[momol]

Thanks everyone for the valuable info of tomatillo, will deffo grow it as it is blight free, can be freeze, yummy, unique... .

Let's go growing...

Momol

[blackkitty]

I've grown them for two years now. Last year I struggled to get plants going (they got slugged) but had one that grew to about four feet high and produced loads of fruit without pollination help. The fruit was late so I picked quite a bit before the frost and let it ripen on the kitchen window sill, which it did quite happily.
My OH likes them fried like tomatoes for breakfast.

[momol]

I've grown them for two years now. Last year I struggled to get plants going (they got slugged) but had one that grew to about four feet high and produced loads of fruit without pollination help. The fruit was late so I picked quite a bit before the frost and let it ripen on the kitchen window sill, which it did quite happily.
My OH likes them fried like tomatoes for breakfast.

Blackkitty,

Fried tomatillo sounds like yummy healthy breakfast, does it taste like tomato cook this way ? I will deffo try it like that thanks for the cooking tip .

Momol

[hypnophil]

Hi, does anyone have a photo of a tomatillo bush?
just to get a rough idea of the girth as well as height,
i have some that have just germinated and dont know where to put them yet,
also, do the birds eat them? do i need to net them?
thanks

[Alison]

Thought that I had a photo from last year but can't find it so think it might be on the desk top upstairs - will look another day. As for birds, I didn't have any problems at all, as somebody above mentioned, the main problem was slugs when they were smaller plants.

[blackkitty]

I must confess that I'm not quite sure what fried tomatillos taste like as I'm not keen on them, I've just asked the OH and he says sweet spicy tomatoes. I did have a photo somewhere but I think its on the PC that has died upstairs. I found that they grow with a wide spread, the four foot one was about three foot in diameter, although the branches are quite spread out.

[Alison]

This piccie was taken of mine last year, not too sure when, think it was early August.

[Flummery]

They look very closely related to Chinese Lanterns - physalis?

[hypnophil]

Thanks for the info guys,
flummery, they do look like physalis don't they, i think there is a relation, maybe just another name for a different strain,
i will let you know when i eat one, but it may be a while lol...