The fruit is edible raw or cooked, as in pies or preserves. The fruit can fall from the plant before it is ripe. ... If it is still bitter after cooking, don't eat it. A wild species that takes to home gardening very well is Physalis angulata, the Cutleaf Ground Cherry.

Is Cutleaf ground cherry poisonous?

Its fruit is edible and used medicinally in South America; extracts of the fruit have anti-imflammatory properties. Other parts of the plant are poisonous, as with many members of the nightshade family.

What happens if you eat an unripe ground cherry?

A note of caution: Because ground cherries are nightshades they contain solanine and other solanidine alkaloids. These are considered toxins and can be found in lethal levels in the unripe fruit and leaves of the ground cherry.