You could think of cherry tomato plants as the candy counter of the garden, proffering sweet, juicy little orbs of sunshine that tickle your palate with a range of flavors.
Cherry tomatoes are in a class of their own. While they’re not really suited to making the classic midsummer tomato sandwich, they are super productive and, with proper care, will produce extravagantly over a long season.
Growing them is not vastly different from growing other types of tomatoes (like slicers or saladettes), but as you decide which varieties to grow, you’ll want to consider your space, your tastes, and your growing conditions. As a plus, cherry tomatoes tend to mature more quickly and be ready for harvest sooner, making them a great choice for northern growers.
A Brief History of Cherry Tomatoes
Solanum pimpinellifolium, the wild form of Solanum lycopersicum, originated in the Andes (modern-day Ecuador, Peru, and Chile), growing in grape-like clusters of small fruit. After the tomato’s introduction to Mexico, Inca and Aztec people were cultivating them around 700 AD. By the time Spaniards arrived in the Americas, people were enjoying all manner of tomatoes.
This cultivation and selection work formed the foundation for centuries of tomato breeding, which continues today.
While the precise journey of tomatoes to the Old World isn’t clear, Swiss physician Gaspard Bauhin described small tomatoes in his 1623 work, Pinax Theatri Botanici (Illustrated Exposition of Plants). The 12-volume work cataloged nearly 6,000 plant species.
Over time, some have tried to take credit for “inventing” cherry tomatoes, but the truth is always more complicated.
Greece has tried to lay claim to the cherry tomato. As the story goes, an abbot named Fragkiskos first took cherry tomato seeds to the monastery Kapoutsinon, on the island of Syros, in 1818. Some 50 years later, a landrace variety known as Tomataki Santorinus came into cultivation on the island of Santorini.
The sweet, small tomato popular for fresh eating, sauces, and pastes, is morphologically distinct from other landrace tomatoes, and in 2013 the European Commission gave it Protected Designation of Origin status.
The Israeli government has also tried to claim that the cherry tomato was invented there; scholar Anna Wexler debunked that controversial claim in her research.
It is the case that two professors of agriculture at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Haim Rabinowitch and Nachum Kedar, did pioneering work in the 1970s and 1980s to improve the shelf life of cherry tomatoes, thus transforming them from a backyard crop with a short shelf life to one that could be commercially produced and shipped.
And while mentions of cherry tomatoes can be found in newspaper articles and recipes before the 1980s, as a common culinary ingredient and phenomenon, they really took off on the wings of Rabinowitch and Kedar’s breeding work.
Our Top Picks of Cherry Tomatoes
Unlike commercial hybrids, heirloom and open-pollinated tomatoes are bred for taste, not shipping long distances. With that in mind, here are our favorite cherry tomato varieties. All of them are indeterminate varieties and will produce over a long season when properly tended.
White Currant
White Currant, which is also known as Champagne Bubbles tomato, is a super sweet heirloom with a tangy undertone, and it is a perennial favorite in the Baker Creek gardens.
The tiny, cream-colored fruit grows in prodigious clusters, which continue to produce late into the season. You’ll want to trellis this wildly abundant indeterminate plant, which will grow four to eight feet tall and spread three or four feet. It definitely needs – and deserves – support!
Black Cherry
Black Cherry packs all the rich, dusky flavor of a black tomato like Cherokee Purple in a bite-sized package! The antioxidant-rich fruit resembles purple-brown grapes, and the indeterminate plants grow to five to seven feet or more, so you will want to stake or trellis them! (We grow tomatoes, indoors and out, on cattle panels.)
Isis Candy Cherry
This spectacular variety, with its one-inch fruit blushed in shades of red and yellow, was developed by Joe Bratka, a Seed Savers Exchange member from New Jersey (a state with a distinguished tradition of tomato production). Bratka’s other open-pollinated selections include Marizol Bratka, a cross of the Marizol Purple and Brandywine, and the Snow White cherry tomato. Bratka comes from a tomato family; his father was also a tomato preservationist and breeder.
Isis Candy Cherry tomato typically has an intriguing “cat’s eye” or star in yellow on the blossom end. Kids adore this exceptionally sweet and fruity cherry tomato!
Rosella
Tomato breeder Mark Rowland couldn’t find cherry tomatoes he liked, so he set about breeding his own at his Laughing Owl Nursery in Lincolnshire, England. Rowland focused exclusively on flavor, and Rosella is one of his superior results!
The vines produce massive trusses of dark purple/dusky rose cherries with a smoky blush. The half-inch tomatoes contain few seeds, making them superb for fresh eating yet solid enough to make a rich red tomato paste or use in recipes. Rosella has a splendid balance of sweet and tart, with a rich, lingering aftertaste.
In 2011, Rowland created Gourmet Genetics to market his tomato creations – and gourmet tomato lovers are all the better for it!
Blue Cream Berries
Brad Gates of Wild Boar Farms in California has been called the “Willy Wonka of Tomato Breeding,” and one look at his eye-popping open-pollinated tomatoes will tell you why. Gates likes to say that he is creating “the heirlooms of the future” with his open-pollinated varieties such as the kaleidoscopic Brad's Atomic Grape, Baker Creek’s best-selling tomato. He also developed Blue Cream Berries, a super-sweet and super prolific cherry tomato with a delicate, complex flavor and winsome appearance. The cream-colored fruit is splashed with shades of blue. One of our all-time favorites!
Our Favorite Tomato Growing Resources
"The Art of Starting Tomatoes from Seed," contains the Rare Seeds experts' soup-to-nuts advice on getting the most from your tomato seeds.
"Tomatoes 101" provides answers and advice on some of the most common -- and vexing -- tomato gardening issues.
Key Takeaways
- Cherry tomatoes tend to mature more quickly than other tomato types, making them a great choice for growers in short-season climates.
- Tomatoes originated in the Andes, growing wild in grape-like clusters.
- Aztec and Maya farmers in Mexico were already cultivating and selecting tomatoes in 700 AD.
- The earliest recorded mention of cherry tomatoes in Europe was in 1623, in Gaspard Bauhin’s Pinax Theatri Botanici (Illustrated Exposition of Plants).
- Cherry tomatoes were largely a backyard crop until the 1980s, when plant scientists developed varieties that had a longer shelf life and could be shipped long distances.
But to our way of thinking, there’s nothing better than a homegrown tomato, grown for flavor and picked fresh!
About the Author
Michelle Johnson is a nationally award-winning writer and editor with decades of experience in print, digital, and broadcast media.
She is also Baker Creek's resident 'seed historian,' digging into the back stories of celebrated and fascinating heirloom varieties from around the world.
Explore her Seed Stories video project on Baker Creek's YouTube channel.
