I’ve never cooked with physalis (is that the plural?) before, and come to think of it I’ve never cooked with green tea either, so making this gave me a great chance to flex my culinary muscle, and while making jam isn’t really “thinking outside the box”, the physalis and green tea jam was easy to make, and the taste was amazing. Like… actually, really, really good. It ended up being one of these experiments which you feel really pleased with, and given my previous opinion of physalis, it was nice to know that they can be turned into something delicious.
You see, up to now, physalis have always been these “sticky little berries” which they put on top of cakes and desserts in France, and no-one ever eats them. Well, I always did, because I don’t like wasting food – even if it’s just a tiny “sticky little berry” – but nine times out of ten, I would see them discarded on the side of the plate at the end of the meal. So, what prompted me to suddenly get busy in the kitchen with both physalis and also green tea?
Well, for the physalis, it’s a short answer. They were on special at the store (along with sun-dried tomatoes – yum!) so I grabbed a couple of packets and declared to my wife that I’d “figure something out later”. The green tea requires a slightly longer explanation.
I recently got an email from Alison at a company called Tea Vivre. She asked me if I’d like to try a selection of different teas, and – hey, I’m British – we do love our tea, right? Naturally I replied in the affirmative that, indeed, I would love to try some tea, and although she didn’t ask me to, I said I would also make something using the tea as well, so there you go. While cooking it into a jam perhaps isn’t the most conventional use of green tea it sure made for a gorgeous background flavour to the physalis. The teas that Tea Vivre kindly sent to me were:
- Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea
- Organic Superfine Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea
- Premium Tai Ping Hou Kui Green Tea
- Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea
- Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun)
Now, I’m no green tea expert, and can’t really proclaim to knowing the difference between those, except in taste alone. They all tasted really good; I visited my sister in China about 14 years ago (wow, that’s a long time!) and drank a lot of green tea during my time there. The flavours were enough to bring back happy memories of my trip there – experiencing such a new, exciting culture in the furthest away place I’d ever been to at that age.
My favourite tea was, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nonpareil Te Gong Huang Shan Mao Feng. The phrase “nonpareil” (without equal) tends to be used to denote things of superior quality so I guess it isn’t odd that I found it the best. I used the tea which sounded the “least exclusive” in my recipe below – the Bi Luo Chun, but I was drinking it while I was making the jam as well and also found it had a lovely clean flavour – probably the most refreshing out of them all, which is why I think it went so well with the jam.
In any event, Alison kindly offered to also sponsor a giveaway (well, three actually). Three people will each win the following:
- Premium Dragon Well Long Jing Green Tea (7g x 2)
- Bi Luo Chun Green Tea (Pi Lo Chun) (7g x 2)
- Huang Shan Mao Feng Green Tea (5g x 2)
- Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea (7g x 2)
- Peach Jasmine Dragon Pearl Green Tea (7g x 2)
To enter, simply do the following:
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The winners will be selected randomly using random.org (based by comment number) and announced in a post on the 25th of June. Winners will then have 24 hours (from the time the post is first published) to get in touch with me. If they don’t then a new winner(s) will be selected.
Best of luck to everyone, and I hope you enjoy the physalis and green tea jam!
Physalis and Green Tea Jam
Ingredients
- 200 g Physalis
- 120 g Jam-making Sugar
- 120 ml strong Green Tea
Instructions
- Start off by thoroughly washing a small, empty conserve jar and lid. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees celsius and place the jar and lid into the hot oven for about 10 minutes to sterilize it.
- Remove the papery leaves from the physalis and then wash them, before cutting each one in half.
- Place into a small pan and add the green tea. Cover and simmer for about 3 - 5 minutes, until the physalis have started to soften a little more.
- Add the sugar and bring to the boil. Boil the jam for about 5 minutes before gently pouring into the sterilized, and still quite hot, conserve jar.
- Seal immediately, and allow to cool before enjoying.
How fantastic! My husband and I love Green Tea, and I would love to try these with him. Thank you for the wonderful giveaway.
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
I subscribe to your email list.
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
I shared on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ejellis33/posts/266455743542296
Thank you!
Erin
fairyfractal at gmail dot com
Charles, I had to look up physalis because I had NO idea what it was. Cape gooseberry isn’t something I can remember ever seeing but the papery husk and its family relationship and resemblance to tomatillos are very interesting. I liked the idea that they can be used in salads like tomatoes especially considering my own dislike of ‘real’ tomatoes.
Using the green tea to cook the jam in seems so inventive. Does it give a noticeable flavour to the jam? I’m not a big tea drinker am trying to get my head around the mental ‘taste’ of the two.
The jam looked delicious… but I didn’t recognize the name of the fruit… google here I come.
Thanks for a great idea and a super giveaway.
I have never heard of physalis before. Fascinating. I had no idea there were so many berries out there. Now I’m curious what these taste like. I had to look them up to see if we have them here and they might be akin to our gooseberries (which I have heard of, but not had before). At any rate, the jam looks delicious. I bet that goes well with some cheese and bread. Yum!
Love your giveaway. I will opt out though as I have already won a Teavivre giveway. I will say they have delicious tea! I’m still enjoying mine – making it last as long as I can. 😉
Who knew physalis existed? It sounds like an illness. 🙂 I love this jam, Charles. I can’t imagine what it tastes like but I’m going to look around to see if physalis exists in Oz.
We call those ground cherries, which is also quite a strange name. I like them, they have an interesting tartness if I recall correctly (haven’t had one in a while). Did you weigh them with or without husks? Making jam of them is quite creative and adding green to to flavour is clever. I’ve used tea infusions in desserts before but hadn’t thought to use it this way, actually gets me thinking about other ways to use tea!
I have to admit that my favourite green tea is the one that tastes like pop corn, I just can’t get enough of it!
Looks good and super chunky! I love jams that have chunks of fruits in them. The taste is more natural and of quality. Thanks for sharing!
I had to look up physalis since it’s a fruit I was not familiar with. What a pretty little berry! It sure makes a gorgeous colored jam and I bet it combines with the green tea quite deliciously. Great jam and great giveaway!
I do subscribe to your email list Charles. Don’t want to miss a thing! 🙂
Have I been living under a rock? I’ve never heard of physalis. So they’re sticky little berries! I’d love to try them – on their own or in a jam. Your jam sounds really interesting and looks really good. I don’t think I’ve had a green tea jam before. Is the green tea flavour pronounced in the jam? xx
I love green tea – I drink it everyday! I would love to try these!
I love the idea of tea-infused desserts and concoctions, and the colour on this jam is extraordinary Charles! How creative of you to use the beautiful and tasty physalis here (though, I must say, I’m quite surprised you didn’t include a photo of the lovely fruit!). I agree that physalis is often used ornamentally to spruce up a cheese or fruit plate but the fruit itself is so tasty it’s a shame it isn’t enjoyed more in its own right. That’s one of the reasons why this recipe is so great. Physalis are very expensive though — at least they were in Canada coming in from the tropical regions — so lucky you for finding them on sale. I drink green tea virtually every afternoon 🙂 and though I’m a devout matcha drinker (yes, I know it’s not your thing), I would absolutely be open to trying tea vivre!
Amazing idea! I don’t think I have ever heard of physalis jam. Not to mention combining it with green tea (or any tea really). It is such an inspiring creation! (And also looks absolutely luscious).
I actually like physalis a lot, but I have never had the sticky one, only the fresh one served as decoration on plates in restaurants and at parties. (I believe the final -s comes from the Latin name of this plant genus, but I’m not sure). I hope I will stumble upon its special price one day too… I would love to experiment with it.
I am a huge fan of green tea and brought quite a lot of excellent one from Japan (where it costs a couple of euros… the price we pay here for much much lower quality). Actually, I hope I won’t win: I have already won a fabulous knife on your blog 🙂
Ooh tea, my most favourite drink
Oh I missed this post! Not talking about the giveaway, rather, the jam! Looks amazing. I have never come across physalis before, but oh that gorgeous deep golden orange! And what a brilliant idea to cook in tea instead. I love tea and have tried infusing all manners of things with tea- eggs, rice, cakes etc… just never thought of jam. DUH! Cannot wait to try this out, likely with the glut of apricots I received. Will report back! x
Wow! Very pretty pics!
I can’t have green tea but this jam… looks great!
Green tea in jam? Wow I’ve never tried that before! I think I’ve tried a lot of food that involved tea, but not jam yet! I’m intrigued! I like Chinese green tea, too, but less frequent than Japanese green tea. This giveaway would have been a cool gift for me to win. 🙂
Hi there Charles! Great photo shots here and that jam looks perfect to go with a morning crumpet or bread. I love TeaVivre tea and interesting to see the fun things you can make with tea. Have a super week. How is your little guy doing? Take Care, BAM