This is a bowl of ground cherries. For the past two weeks, a box of them has appeared at the Tonnemaker Family Orchards farmers market stand (Broadway, U District, Columbia City, Phinney, W. Seattle, Lake City), where they inspire one of two reactions. Reaction #1: “What are those?” shopper says. The stand worker explains that the yellow-gold, blueberry-sized fruits are related to tomatoes,* but really sweet, and hands shopper a sample. Shopper tastes, makes “hmm!” sound (meaning “oh, not bad”), looks at $6/pound sign and all those papery husks to peel, moves on.Reaction #2: Shopper sees sign, rushes up to box, grabs sample, hollering “Ohmygodmygrandmotherusedtobakewiththese!” Shopper pops fruit in mouth, closes eyes. “I haven’t tasted this in years,” she sighs, then forces samples on everyone in her party.After reaction #2, I splurged on 2 1/2 pounds yesterday, brought them home, and did just what Mom used to do once a year, telling us about the ground cherries of her childhood:I baked pie. It takes an hour to peel the husks from a big bag of ground cherries, the perfect amount of time for your pie pastry to chill while you make a phone call to an old friend in another state. An 8-inch pie takes 2 pounds of fruit, mixed with 1/2 cup of brown sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons of flour, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. No spices, no lemon juice, nothing to distract from the flavor of the fruit. The Tonnemakers’ ground cherries have no acidity to them, and the flavor is — swear to god — the perfect midpoint between a pina colada and a butterscotch candy, with a slight tomato undertone. (In fact, if you did want to get creative, a tablespoon or two of dark rum might be in order) The only thing the pie needs is a small scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.The Tonnemakers say they’ll have the ground cherries at their stand for the next few weeks. Call your mother or your grandfather, especially if he or she grew up in the Midwest, and tell them you’re baking ground cherry pie. See if they don’t have reaction #2 as well. As for me, since I baked a smaller pie, 2 cups of fruit remain my refrigerator — the perfect amount for a ground cherry and almond clafoutis.* Ground cherries are also related to Chinese lanterns, substitutions of which are not recommended.