Of all the tomatoes I’ve ever grown, I find that cherry tomatoes always make the short list. There is something about the bite-sized nature of these small tomatoes that makes them irresistible in the garden. I rarely leave the garden without snacking on a huge handful of these prolific fruits. The following, in no particular order, are some of my favorite true cherry tomato varieties to grow and eat.
1. Super Sweet 100
Super Sweet 100s are an improved variety of the classic Sweet 100 hybrid that many gardeners know well. It’s a productive indeterminate tomato with long branches that yield a bevy of small, bright-red cherry tomatoes all the way until the first frost. As the name suggests, this variety is actually a little sweeter than the original Sweet 100. Improvements go beyond the taste and include less cracking of the fruit and better disease resistance against verticillium wilt, fusarium wilt and nematodes.
2. Super Snow White
This indeterminate cherry tomato plant produces flavorful and distinctive-looking fruit. The name refers to the unique white color of the tomatoes. As the fruit on this prolific tomato plant ripen, they turn from a white color, eventually taking on a very pale yellow when ready for harvest. The Super Snow White has a great flavor profile featuring a strong sweetness that is rounded out with a perfect acidic tang.
3. Black Cherry
Unlike the overwhelming sweetness of many cherry tomatoes, black cherry tomatoes possess a meaty heirloom flavor that you might expect to find in full-sized tomatoes. The large indeterminate vines produce small, perfectly round fruit with an extremely dark red—almost purple—skin. While they have slightly lower germination rates and occasional splitting, the flavor of these tomatoes make any hassles worth it.
4. Sun Gold
The cherry tomato that I grow every year without fail is the Sun Gold. An indeterminate hybrid, the sun gold is known for its candy-sweet, almost tropical flavor with a well-balanced acidic finish. Sun Golds produce large clusters of bright yellowish-orange round tomatoes throughout the growing season. Once I start eating these delicious cherries I just can’t stop. In fact, these just might be my favorite of the top four.
Some honorable mentions that did not quite make my list include: Sweet Millions, Sun Peach, Isis Candy and Sugar Snack. What are some of your favorite cherry tomatoes to grow?
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