Amarylla Tomatillo

I have grown these for a few years now. They were very small and all the fruit at the bottom of the plant when I grew them in the hot sun. I loved them so much so I have been experimenting with places to grow them. They do like plenty of sun but they need protection from the heat. My best location was in a wooden planter that was under a large tree. It got lots of morning sun and then afternoon protection. The plant was about 2 foot high and 3 ft wide. Next year I will put then in a rolling planter so they can be out in the sun during the spring and then under a tree once it gets hot. They are great sliced into salads and added to salsa. They do not taste like a green tomatillo. They are sweet with a little tang and have a hint of pineapple. They are fun to just eat though somtimes they don't make it to the kitchen.

They are smaller than "regular" tomatillos and sweeter. I loved them. I used them in salsa and got great reviews. It was a slightly different flavor, but I liked it. I also cooked/roasted them with chicken and they were lovely. I was overwhelmed at the end of the season, so I froze them and it worked out great. I've been pulling them out all winter and adding them to different dishes and making more salsa. When I made salsa, I ended up with a bunch of juice and froze that too. It makes for a great addition to stock or stew. I find them to be pretty versatile.

2017 was my first year growing tomatillos. I was surprised how quick and prolific these were. In my community garden someone pulled out all my plants except one. So I planted a few more seeds in late June. These new plants grew super quick and soon started flowering in about 3 weeks. I ended up with a surprising amount of tomatillos, about 6 cups chopped. I was unsure of what to do with them but I made a tomato, peach, tomatillo salsa that is to die for. I was surprised to find that some fruit were ruined by some sort of pest that liked to hide in the husk and leave a stinking mess. Also, We had the driest year in two decades. The plants wilted and looked pretty pitiful until I upped the amount of water they were getting. While the plants don’t need support, I would recommend it. It kept the fruit off the ground and helped with the pests

I was looking for a tomatillo for salsa, and wanted something other than the regular green variety. These are not good for salsa, they are too sweet. I am sure they would make a great jam, but i left them for the birds because they really weren't what i wanted.

I have been searching for a sweet tomatillo for jams and sauces. So I was excited to try Amaryllo. It was exceptionally early and easy to grow. But the fruits gave us a scratchy throat when they were eaten raw, cooked, or dried. Other tomatillos don't have this effect. We gave some fruits away and ended up pulling the plants up early. Some people that we gave them to, didn't seem to mind the throat irritation.