used in Persian cooking, where they provide the tart rubies in a dish called jeweled rice Food Words: Berry, Strawberry Berry comes from an Indo-European root meaning “to shine,” perhaps for the bright colors of many small fruits The straw in strawberry comes from a root for “to spread, to strew.” Straw is the dried stalks strewn about the field after the grain harvest; perhaps strawberries were named for the plant’s habit of spreading by means of runners A related cooking term is streusel, an informally scattered topping on baked goods Other Temperate Fruits Ground Cherry This is one name for a couple of related fruits from low-lying plants in the nightshade family, close relatives of the tomatillo (p 331) The Peruvian or Cape ground cherry or gooseberry, Physalis peruviana, came from South America, while the ordinary ground cherry, P pubescens, is native to both North and South America Both fruits resemble miniature, thick-skinned yellowish tomatoes, are enclosed in papery husks (thus another name, husk tomato), and keep well at room temperature The Peruvian ground cherry has floral and caramel aroma notes in addition to generically fruity esters These fruits are made into preserves and pies Persimmon Persimmons are fruits of trees in the genus Diospyros, which is native to both Asia and North America There’s a plumsized native American persimmon, D virginiana, and a Mexican species known as the black sapote (D digyna), but the most important persimmon species worldwide is D kaki, a tree with applesized fruits native to China and adopted by Japan; it’s sometimes said that persimmons are to the Japanese what ... Persimmon Persimmons are fruits of trees in the genus Diospyros, which is native to both Asia and North America There’s a plumsized native American persimmon, D virginiana, and a Mexican species known as the. .. husks (thus another name, husk tomato), and keep well at room temperature The Peruvian ground cherry has floral and caramel aroma notes in addition to generically fruity esters These fruits are made into preserves and pies Persimmon Persimmons are fruits of trees in... sapote (D digyna), but the most important persimmon species worldwide is D kaki, a tree with applesized fruits native to China and adopted by Japan; it’s sometimes said that persimmons are to the Japanese what