V.C. Challenge Day 2: Red Cabbage and Physalis

Today’s morning grocery store trip was quite successful. I was excited to find that physalis is (are?) now in season. Plus, I decided to try my luck at making one of my favorite German vegetable dishes, red cabbage with apples.

Physalis (apparently also known as Cape Gooseberry or Groundcherry) is one of the fruits that I first discovered when I moved to Europe, but hopefully they are widely available in the United States too by now. They are extremely fragrant little fruits – I could smell them in the grocery bag the whole way home. I couldn’t wait to try them! To eat, just pull back the dried leafy part, and bite off the round shiny fruit inside. Yum!

I used the red cabbage to make Braised Red Cabbage and Apples. This recipe had a long cooking time, but it was worth it in the end. I’m not usually a huge fan of cabbage, but the German-speaking world has managed to convince me that red cabbage cooked with some apples and onions is a very good thing. This is the first time I tried making it myself, and I was quite happy with the results.

Bring on the next fruit and veggie!