Many people know the bright orange-red Andean berry as "physalis", which is sold as a delicious fruit in the supermarket. Few garden lovers know that the native but poisonous Chinese lantern also belongs to the same botanical genus. Both the vitamin-rich fruits of the Andean berry and the pretty lanterns of the lantern flower can be dried quite easily.
Drying lanterns for decoration
The relatively large lanterns of the lantern flower develop from the five sepals of the rather inconspicuous white flower. The lantern encloses the berry - which is quite small compared to the Andean berry - and takes on a wonderful, bright orange-red color in autumn. This makes the lantern flower wonderfully suitable for decorative purposes, e.g. lined up in a lantern chain, in a dried bouquet or simply scattered on a white tablecloth as a table decoration.
drying lanterns
To dry the lanterns, you should remove the perishable berries inside. Let the lanterns dry slightly and then use sharp nail scissors to cut out the base of the stalk together with the berry. In order for this to succeed, the cup should be dry but not completely dry. Lanterns that are too dry crumble easily. For a dried bouquet, pick the whole plant including the stem and hang it upside down in a dry and dark place. When this has dried, you can continue to use it for drying bouquets.
Make a lantern chain
- Cut out the lanterns as described above.
- Put the lanterns over the small bulbs of a chain of lights.
- This should be TÜV-tested and provided with the GS mark.
- LED light chains are best suited as they generate little heat.
- Provide a better hold with some glue (craft glue).
- The self-made, autumnal chain of lights is ready.
Dry physalis fruit
In addition to the pretty lanterns of the lantern flower, the healthy fruits of the related Andean berry are also ideal for drying. Especially when you have a lush harvest, drying the excess berries to preserve them is a good idea. The easiest way to do this is in a dehydrator, but you can also dry the fruit in your oven. A temperature between 45 and 50 °C with circulating air is optimal for the process. Due to the high water content, Andean berries need between 20 and 30 hours to dry completely. The orange-red skin becomes almost translucent when the fruit is dry, so that the numerous seeds inside can be seen. The dried berries are kept cool in a tightly sealable container.
tips and tricks
In the fall, crush some of the ripe fruit and just leave them in the garden (covering them lightly with soil). The seeds will sprout the following spring.
IJA
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
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