Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana)

Cape gooseberry, Physalis peruviana, is the golden berry wrapped in a papery lantern, sold in North Indian winter markets as rasbhari and grown in hill gardens. It comes from the Andes, where it is called uchuva or aguaymanto. The ripe berry is a sweet-tart, vitamin-rich fruit. The unripe fruit, leaves and lantern are not eaten, because, like other members of the tomato family, they contain toxic alkaloids.

Botanical name: Physalis peruviana L.
Family: Solanaceae
Tamil: Tippari
Hindi: Rasbhari
Parts used: Ripe fruit
Habit: Cape gooseberry; English gooseberry is a shop word
Last updated: 2026-10-30

How to recognise Cape gooseberry

It is a soft, hairy, spreading perennial about a metre tall, usually grown as an annual, with heart-shaped, velvety leaves.

Flowers are bell-shaped and yellow, with five dark purple-brown spots in the throat.

After flowering, the sepals swell into a papery, ribbed, straw-coloured husk that hangs like a Chinese lantern around the berry.

The berry is round, orange-yellow and glossy when ripe, about the size of a marble, full of tiny seeds. Wild groundcherry, Physalis angulata, is smaller, nearly hairless, with a smaller, greener lantern.

Traditional use of Cape gooseberry

Kitchen

In India the ripe berries are eaten fresh and made into jams and chutneys. In the Andes they are eaten fresh, in sauces and dried.

Indian and Andean food practice

Cultivation

It was grown by settlers at the Cape of Good Hope in the nineteenth century, which gave it the English name, and it spread from there through the British Empire, including to Indian hill stations.

Horticultural history

Modern notes on Cape gooseberry

The berries are a good source of vitamin C and provitamin A carotenoids. They are marketed internationally as goldenberries, fresh and dried.

Laboratory studies of the plant’s withanolides exist, but they apply to extracts, not to eating the fruit.

Cape gooseberry safety

Eat only fully ripe, orange berries with the husk removed. Unripe green berries, leaves and stems can make people ill.

Ecology and sourcing

It is native to the Andes of Peru, Colombia and Ecuador and grows best in cool, frost-free climates.

In India it does well in the hills and as a winter crop on the plains, fruiting from about January to April.

It self-seeds readily and can escape into disturbed ground.

Related plants

Also in Solanaceae

Questions about Cape gooseberry

Is Cape gooseberry a gooseberry?

No. English gooseberry is a Ribes shrub. This is in the tomato family.

What is rasbhari?

The North Indian market name for cape gooseberry.

Can you eat the husk?

No. Remove the papery husk and eat only the ripe berry.

Sources

Educational page about a plant. It is not medical advice, not a diagnosis, and not an offer to sell. Traditional use is historical. If you need care, ask a licensed clinician. Questions: hello@meevamed.com.