Which Physalis are you?

The next mystery to unravel in the wild-veggie garden, another Nightshade.

My mother in-law came up to our kitchen door this morning with a handful of the "ground-cherries" that have been growing happily in the garden. She also brought with her a handful of a cultivated variety that a friend had grown, known in Turkiye as Altin Cilek, or Golden strawberries, and worldwide as the Peruvian Groundcherry, Physalis peruviana. She then proceeded to pop open one from my garden and take a bite while I tried to explain in a hastened broken Turkish that unripened nightshades might be poisonous. I told her I haven't even tried one yet, to which she guffawed, as apparently everyone thinks I'll eat anything that grows in the wild (mostly libel and slander).

I have been however checking the cherries regularly, both ones that have dropped and ones still on the branch but clearly dried and just about to drop.  Each time, none seem to be turning yellow, only going from a pallid green to a darker slightly yellow-green with faint purple mottling. I had read years about that the Physalis species, like most Nightshades, must be ripened before consumption. I had come across this same plant at our old home at a lower sea-level about 30 minutes from where we live now. I had saved a handful of them to dry further, in hopes they might ripen, but weeks later the color had only changed minimally. Perhaps these are a Mediterranean variety that never achieves that bright yellow hue? For if the berry is toxic when unripe, could this mean that the dropped, dried fruit is now ripe and edible, even if the color hadn't changed? No news of my M-I-L falling sick so far, so maybe I can try one?

For comparison, the cultivated Groundcherry she brought with her were almost double in size, and had the classic sunshine coloring that I seem to find shown everywhere online. Fruity aroma, all around tasty. I'll save three or four for seeds for next year to grow those as a sure-fire snack, but what about these wild babies?

I'm reading that there are almost 90 varieties of Physalis in the world. About half of them are endemic to Mexico and Central America, so I should be able to safely rule those out, but with most other introduced almost world wide within a wide berth of the equator. Seek identified our Physalis with the species of angulata, syn. longifolia, commonly called the Cutleaf Groundcherry or Wild Gooseberry. "Native to the Americas....now widely distributed and naturalized in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide." Although on most sources I don't see Turkey listed as one of the countries in which these are found, with one Research Gate article siting that the angulata species was introduced a couple decades ago while surveying cotton fields-though in much farther eastern regions. Noting also that, along with the Peruvian Ground cherry, the tomatillo (Physalis philadelphia Lam.) has also been introduced as a crop here, though I've yet to come across the latter in any market or grocer. The ripened fruit from the Seek app shows a still-green skinned fruit and medium green interior, much like the ones from garden. If the rain doesn't take all the leaves, I'll have to take better photos of the stem/leaves/fruits. So now that I have a probable identification, are they edible?

According to Wikipedia, yes, but again only the fully ripened fruit-all other parts are considered to be poisonous, with stories of the greens having killed sheep and cattle when accidentally mixed in with hay or feed. Useful Tropical Plants gives them a 3/5 rating on the edibility scale, tasting similar to a cherry tomato. Promising at the very least. Most sources also note that the Physalis species are all edible, just with varying levels of tastiness, some far more bitter than others.

So far I've picked several small baskets worth of fallen fruit of our the Cutleaf variety. They hold out quite well on the counter, as with other nightshades preferring a well-aerated room temperature envrionment as opposed to the cool/cold aridity of a refrigerator. The taste I would say is very similar to a cherry tomato, although just barely sweeter. The fruits have a slight stickiness to their exterior, however nothing unpleasant, and pop slightly upon biting, similar to large grapes. For the last two weeks I've had these on the counter in a dish lined with paper towel, with no noticeable change in texture or taste. I plan to leave some longer along with my tray of drying herbs and seeds, to see if they will raisin. Aside from eating a few at a time like grapes, I suspect they would taste quite lovely sliced in half with a fruity vinaigrette with onions and thyme or fresh basil. I'd optimistically give them a 4 on the edibility scale, with the extra point for the small joy that comes from unwrapping each from their lacy coats. Call me a simpleton.

Notes for growing/storing: Can be propagated from seed after February/mid-March inside and transferred out after last frost. Should be stored while in the husk, not frozen as they can apparently burst, a trait particular to the Physalis genus. Cutleaf ground-cherries can also be dried and used similar to raisins, fingers crossed. A possible note on growing other plants within the vicinity- A study from 2005 was done to measure whether selected Brassicas (mostly radish varieties) could be used as a natural herbicide due to their allelopathic properties. This was done specifically in Turkiye, as the Cutleaf Ground-cherry was negatively affecting cotton crops. I won't plant any Brassicas in the same spot as the cherry to be sure. No effect from the cucumber growing next to them though, if anything made the plant more vigorous.

(A note on my raisin experiment. It's been almost a month and a couple of the grapes are still green, though losing their plumpness and taste like a fresh grape. I'm shooketh. After slowly snacking on these, I've begun a second batch. This one comprised of mixed green and pink grapes, I blanched them for 2 minutes in several liters of water with 3 Tablespoons of pomegranate vinegar, and a teaspoon each of salt and sugar. The skins of these at least have already burst or peeled back so hopefully they'll raisin faster. However most of the recipes said only to blanch for a minute, hopefully I didn't leave them for too long.)