Ground Cherry Hot Sauce
“Ground Cherries - your next new favorite food”
In August, I had the exciting opportunity to work two Outstanding in the Field dinners in Battle Creek and Detroit. Long and dramatic tables are set up in the field of a farm, and guests enjoy a true farm-to-table dinner prepared by a local chef. If you ever get a chance to attend a dinner, you should. It will be an amazing experience. If you don’t want to shell out a pretty penny for a ticket, apply to work a dinner! You still get to try all the food. You just have a 12+ hour day of manual labor to get through until you earn it.
While they were two long work days, the food I got to experience from both chefs was amazing, especially the dinner from Detroit chef, Sarah Welch. She is on her way to opening up a new butcher shop/restaurant hybrid called Marrow later this fall, and made a crazy unique Korean-inspired menu for the OITF event at Food Field.
@marrow_detroit
Among the crunchy rice salad with pickled shrimp and four different kinds of cucumber - prepared four different ways - and mushroom and rice croquettes with pickled and fermented plums was this cool skewer, drawing from the flavors of an el pastor taco.
@marrow_detroit
Rich and tender pork tongue, unctuous and salty pork belly were skewered and grilled together, topped off with a ground cherry. And holy shit. It tasted like an el pastor taco. The ground cherry had this amazing pineapple sweetness, but in the form of a small cherry tomato. When Chef Sarah spoke about the dish - and ground cherries - she explained that many farmers keep these amazing little packages as treat for themselves. So if you can get your hands on some, do it. And I did just that.
Friends of mine own this amazing farm here in West Michigan and posted this beautiful photo of farm boxes they were selling.
@greenthistlefarm
There, nestled with the tiny eggplants and squash blossoms, were ground cherries! I immediately contacted Tina and asked for a box, plus three extra pints of ground cherries. I didn’t have a plan on what to do with them, I just knew I wanted all that I could get my hands on.
Once I had these deliciable little gems in my kitchen, I couldn’t stop eating them. Technically, ground cherries are part of the tomatillo family, which is why they have the paper wrapper on the outside. But once you bite into them, it’s a crazy mash up of pineapple, mango and a hint of tomato. I understood what Chef Sarah meant. If I grew these, I wouldn’t share them either.
After eating almost an entire pint just plain as is, I knew I need to seize this opportunity and make something that tasted just as magical as they did.
I made tiny skewers, inspired by Chef Sarah’s appetizer, with jamon and Evergreen Lane Fromage Blanc. And ate about 20 of them.
While sitting and staring at the long, red, and probably insanely spicy pepper in my basket, I had my mind made up. Ground Cherry Hot Sauce.
Since I had this pepper - come to find out it was a cayenne - I used it in the hot sauce. But a jalapeño, fresno or a serrano would work just fine. The color will be more yellow and spice level will vary. I also love using a combination of vinegars here - apple cider vinegar and regular distilled white vinegar. The little extra sweetness from the apple cider vinegar is a nice touch, and the white vinegar helps balance everything out.
I chose to not strain the seeds out of the hot sauce. I think it’s fun to keep them in to remind myself that this is not your normal, run-of-the-mill hot sauce. I also cooked down half of my ground cherries with the pepper and vinegar, and added the rest in whole before I blended it up. I wanted to keep as much of the natural fresh flavor of the ground cherries as I could.
This stuff is freaking addicting. It should keep for about a month in the fridge, but I doubt it will last that long.
Ground Cherry Hot Sauce
Makes two 8 oz. bottles
Two pints ground cherries
1 - 2 spicy peppers - cayenne, jalapeño, fresno, serrano, etc.
½ cup apple cider vinegar
½ cup distilled white vinegar
1 Tablespoon honey
Kosher salt
Special equipment: immersion blender and hot sauce bottles
Remove the paper husks from all the ground cherries, and place half in a medium saucepan. Slice the pepper crosswise, keeping the seeds and ribs intact. Add to the pot of ground cherries.
Pour in both vinegars and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and let the mixture cook for 15-20 minutes, until the ground cherries have begun to burst and the peppers are soft.
Remove from heat and add in the rest of the ground cherries. Using an immersion blender, (or working in batches with a regular blender) blend until you have a smooth puree.
Add the honey and a pinch of salt and taste. Adjust to your liking. Let cool and slowly pour into hot sauce bottles. Keep in the fridge and use it on everything.
