Table of contents
The tomatillo ( Physalis philadelphica ), which also grows wild, is a nightshade plant. The name mountain eggplant refers to the purple varieties.
Use in the kitchen:
The tomatillo (less commonly known as the tomatillo) is mainly found in Central American cuisine, both raw and cooked, as a vegetable. It should not be confused with unripe, green tomatoes , which are poisonous due to their solanine content. The cape gooseberry (often simply called "physalis") is more common than the tomatillo.
The entire tomatillo fruit can be eaten, except for the papery calyx and the base of the stalk. However, other parts of the plant should not be used for preparation or consumption.
The versatile use of mountain eggplant ranges from stews, soups, salads, curries, jams to desserts.
Can you eat tomatillos raw? Even though tomatillos are mostly cooked or grilled and used in mixed vegetable dishes, they can also be eaten raw. What does tomatillo taste like? The consistency of mountain eggplants is similar to an apple and the sour, spicy taste goes well in salads. When ripe, tomatillos have a fruitier, sweeter note and are reminiscent of gooseberries.
Tomatillos are harvested at different stages of development, which affects their taste, color and use. For example, early harvested tomatillos are used for what is known as " salsa verde ," while sweeter, riper fruits are suitable as a tomato substitute. Purple and red ripening varieties are naturally slightly sweet, making them good for jams.
Latin American cuisine mainly uses unripe fruits to enhance the taste and appearance of salsas and vegetable stir-fries. In Mexican cuisine, tomatillos are often prepared together with chilies, as the two ingredients not only complement each other in terms of taste, but a combination also reduces the spiciness of the chilies.
Other culinary applications work with the fruit pods of the plant. The broth prepared from them is suitable for seasoning rice or for tenderizing red meat. The broth is also used to optimize the consistency of certain types of dough - for example for tamale, a traditional Mesoamerican dish.
The sweetness of tomatillo fruits can be enhanced through a drying process. The tomatillo flavor is also used in fusion cuisine to mix flavors from Latin American dishes with those from Europe and North America. 1
Vegan recipe for tomatillo salad:
Ingredients: 250 g tomatillo, 250 g cocktail tomatoes , 2 red onions , 2 cloves of garlic , 1 fresh jalapeño ( pickled also possible), 2 tbsp olive oil (or better cold-pressed rapeseed oil ), 2 tbsp freshly chopped coriander , lime juice , sea salt .
Wash the tomatillos and tomatoes and cut into small pieces. Peel the onions and garlic and dice finely. Wash the jalapeño, halve it, remove the seeds and chop it finely. Mix all the ingredients with oil and coriander leaves and season with lime juice and salt. This salad is also ideal as a salsa with tortilla chips.
| Not only vegans or vegetarians should read this: Vegans often eat unhealthily. Avoidable nutritional mistakes . |
Shopping - where to buy?
Aside from South American delicatessens, tomatillos can only be found in the vegetable section of larger, well-stocked supermarkets. In Germany, for example, you can occasionally find them at the Viktualienmarkt in Munich. Supermarket chains such as Migros , Coop , Edeka , Rewe , Spar , Aldi , Lidl , Denner , Hofer etc. rarely stock tomatillos in their range and if they do, then only as special offers. Some supermarkets sell tomatillos preserved in salt water (e.g. from La Costeña at Rewe ) or the well-known, ready-made salsa verde.
When buying fresh fruit, pay attention to how firm it is to the touch and whether it has a strong color. Aromatic tomatillos are not much bigger than a golf ball. The thin calyx surrounding the fruit should be relatively fresh and not completely dried out.
Alternatively, you can order fruit or seeds online: prefer organic tomatillos and organic seeds. Growing your own plants is easy with a heated greenhouse or if you are located in a warm climate.
Found in the wild:
The original home of the tomatillo is Central America and Mexico, where some wild specimens can also be found. They are often found near agricultural areas used for corn and beans.
Storage:
Ripe, undamaged tomatillos can be stored for up to a week at room temperature. Longer storage is possible at 5-10 °C. However, cold damage begins to appear after 2-3 weeks at 5 °C and after 3-4 weeks at 10 °C.
According to test kitchen manager Donna Deane ( Los Angeles Times ) and recipe tester Noelle Carter , another preservation option is to freeze peeled fruit in slices and store them in an airtight freezer bag. 2
Ingredients - nutritional value - calories:
The raw tomatillo fruit consists of over 90% water. Due to a citric acid content of ≈ 1.11%, it has a low pH value, which is the basis for the slightly sour taste of the fruit. The fruit also contains small traces (< 0.06%) of malic and lactic acid. Aldehydes and alcohols are mainly responsible for the characteristic taste. In addition, tomatillo fruit contains certain substances that are also found in tomatoes and that partly determine the taste of the tomato. 3
100 g of raw tomatillos contain approx. 32 kcal and cover > 10 % of the daily dose of vitamin K , vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and niacin (ex vitamin B 3 ) recommended by the EU Food Information Regulation.
Cranberries have the same amount of vitamin C as tomatillos, at 12 mg/100g. Yellow bell peppers, in comparison, have a lot of vitamin C: 184 mg/100g. Sour cherries (11 µg) contain a similar amount of vitamin K to mountain eggplant. There are also vegetables, such as chard (830 µg/100g), that have much more of this vitamin. The niacin content of tomatillos is also the same as that of sour cherries, at 1.8 mg/100g. Sea buckthorn berries contain a particularly high amount of niacin, at 743 mg/100g.
In addition, mountain eggplants also contain a small amount of minerals such as potassium , phosphorus and magnesium as well as micronutrients or trace elements such as copper , manganese , iron , etc.
If the fruit is heated during preparation, this results in a change in the composition of substances that influence the aroma. For example, the breakdown of complex polysaccharides leads to an increase in simple sugars. But the proportion of fructose and sucrose also increases during the cooking process. The involvement of changed sugar proportions in Maillard reactions leads to organoleptic changes.
You can find all the ingredients, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients in our nutrient tables. In the article Nutrients explained you will get a detailed insight into the topic.
Health aspects - effects:
Plant extracts showed in vitro antibacterial activity against three gram-positive pathogens that are partly responsible for respiratory diseases. 5 In addition, tomatillos are an excellent source of antioxidants and can be incorporated into many fresh dishes. 6
Dangers - Intolerances - Side effects:
Eating other parts of the plant (apart from the fruit) is not recommended, as these can be poisonous under certain circumstances. Tomatillos should also not be confused with unripe, green tomatoes, which, when unripe, contain solanine, a slightly poisonous chemical compound found in many nightshade plants. The confusion is not always based on the visual appearance, but on the similar, sometimes identical name for young, still unripe tomatoes.
Folk medicine - naturopathy:
Ingredients of the decoction made from the flower calyxes are used in Mexican folk medicine against diabetes mellitus.
Occurrence - Origin:
The domestication of tomatillos took place in Mexico before the arrival of the Europeans and was of greater importance to the Maya and Aztecs than that of the tomato.
The plant is mainly grown in the Mexican states of Hidalgo, Morelos and in the highlands of Guatemala. 7 Tomatillos have also been grown in the United States since 1863, and there are now a large number of different cultivars such as "Jamberry" and "Maya tomato". Other areas of distribution include India, Australia, South Africa and Kenya. 3
Cultivation - Harvest:
Tomatillos are frost-sensitive plants with a high tolerance to many types of soil. Well-drained, sandy and fertile soils with a pH between 5.5 and 7.3 are best. The plants prefer plenty of sunlight and warm locations. For this reason, the optimal daytime temperatures are between 25-32 °C and the temperature should not fall below 15 °C at night. Germination takes place at 20-27 °C with a germination time of about a week. Direct sowing outdoors is only possible if there is no risk of frost and the soil temperature is > 15 °C.
Because the tomatillos need a lot of space due to their branched growth, they should be pruned regularly and a distance of at least 40 centimeters should be maintained between the individual plants. Moderate fertilization is recommended and sufficient watering is necessary.
When is a tomatillo ripe? Tomatillos are harvested as soon as the fruits fill the sepals and these begin to burst. This stage is usually reached 65 to 100 days after transplanting. A single plant produces 60 to 200 fruits in a single growing season and reaches a height of 1.5 to 2 meters.
Although tomatillos are perennial plants, wintering is hard and they are often grown as annuals. Exceptions are winter gardens or heated greenhouses. 8
Risk of confusion:
The close relationship to the Cape gooseberry ( Physalis peruviana , often simply referred to as Physalis in stores) or the Andean berry ( Physalis edulis , usually considered a synonym for Physalis peruviana 9 ) and the pineapple cherry ( Physalis pruinosa ) allows for confusion. However, these species are also edible. When people talk about a Chinese lantern fruit in the trade, they usually mean the Cape gooseberry.
The green parts of the Chinese lantern flower ( Physalis alkekengi ) used for decoration are considered slightly poisonous, the ripe fruit is used in folk medicine. 3 The Chinese lantern flower grows in temperate latitudes. Not to be confused with, but related to, the lychee tomato (Solanum sisymbriifolium ), which is similar in size but red.
General information:
The tomatillo ( Physalis philadelphica ) belongs to the plant genus Physalis and to the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Botanically speaking, it is a berry fruit.
Alternative names:
"The" Tomatillo is also common. Other Latin synonyms according to Wikipedia are: Physalis ixocarpa Brot. ex DC., Physalis aequata J. Jacq. exNees. 3
In English the fruit is known as tomatillo or Mexican husk tomato.
The term "tomatillo" is derived from the Spanish diminutive for tomato, which in turn comes from the word "tomatl" from the Aztec language Nahuatl.
Literature - Sources:
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