My new favourite food: Incan berries

I actually can’t stop eating these. Graze, it’s all your fault after some of these came in one of my boxes.

They look a little like shriveled up brains and are a bit like a healthier version of Tangfastics. Mouth-cringeingly sour and 100% moreish, I’ve almost finished the pack I bought a couple of days ago. They have tiny little seeds in them which, when bitten, releases extra sourness. Amazing!

They’re known as Incan berries, presumably because they were once cultivated by the South American Incans. However, they also come under the name of Cape Gooseberry, Aztex berry, Golden berry, giant ground cherry, Pok Pok, Poha, Ras bhari (the Indian term which sounds very much like ‘raspberry’), Aguaymanto, Uvilla, Uchuva and Physalis (not to be confused with Syphilis). I knew it as Physalis, mainly because you get them from Waitrose and they come with a little cute papery lantern case. A small bag of the fresh berries cost £1 for 100g.

However, these dried physalis were new to me. I found them at ‘Revital’, a health shop by Victoria station. Although having looked them up on the inSpiral website, it does look like I’ve been thoroughly ripped off. They cost me around £8 in the shop whereas you can get them online from inSpiral at £3.95. Pffffft. I shan’t be going back there again!

They’re also not bad for you – they’re a good source of vitamin P (bioflavonoids) which supposedly help with things like increasing the strength of your capillaries, helping vitamin C absorption, aid in pain relief, lower blood cholesterol levels and more. It’s not synthesized by your body and bioflavonoids can also be found in the white pithy stuff in citrus fruits, as well as peppers, grapes, onions, garlic, green tea and blue and white berries. If you suffer from cold sores, have a chew on a few of these, with some vitamin C – they’re supposed to help stave them off.

You can get them from inSpiral here: http://shop.inspiralled.net/product/superfoods/incan-berries-100g/