These are called Ground Cherries, or "Choke Cherries". They have a husk that you need to remove and eat the little fruit inside.
I describe them as starting like a pineapple, and finishing with a vanilla flavor.
The coolest way I have ever eaten them is with the husk peeled back but the fruit was still attached. They were then dunked into chocolate so that you would grab the husk and pull the chocolate-covered fruit out...I think I ate the whole carton this way.
