Groundcherry Soup

Clara Behmer of Neffsville, Pennsylvania, was well known in the 1920s for her yellow tomato soups. The Pennsylvania Dutch refer to the small, cherry-size yellow tomatoes used in cookery as Oiertomatts (“egg” tomatoes), since they resemble bird eggs, in shape at least. Most of our egg tomato recipes are actually adaptations of much older recipes using groundcherries (Physalis heterophylla Nees), a member of the nightshade family that grows in abundance along th