14 Best Cherry Tomato Varieties: Top Picks for Your Garden

Introduction

Did you know that cherry tomatoes can produce up to 50-100 fruits per plant, making them one of the highest-yielding vegetables for home gardens? While many gardeners default to standard varieties like Sweet 100, the world of cherry tomatoes offers a stunning rainbow of options that vary dramatically in flavor, color, and growing requirements. Finding the perfect cherry tomato varieties for your garden can transform your harvests from ordinary to extraordinary. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll explore the 14 best cherry tomato varieties that stand out for their exceptional taste, productivity, and garden performance.

The Complete List of Top Cherry Tomato Varieties

1. Sungold

Often considered the gold standard of cherry tomatoes, Sungold produces clusters of golden-orange fruits with a perfect balance of sweetness and acidity. With a Brix rating (sugar content) of 9.3, it’s one of the sweetest tomatoes available. These indeterminate plants grow vigorously and produce continuously throughout the season.

2. Black Cherry

These deep mahogany-purple fruits offer a complex, smoky-sweet flavor profile that’s unmatched in the cherry tomato world. Their rich anthocyanin content provides significant antioxidant benefits compared to red varieties. Black Cherry plants produce abundant 1-inch fruits on tall, sprawling vines.

3. Supersweet 100

An improved version of the classic Sweet 100, this variety produces extraordinary clusters of bright red fruits with exceptional sweetness. A single plant can yield over 1,000 tomatoes in optimal conditions. Their high vitamin C content (nearly 3x that of larger tomatoes by volume) makes them nutritional powerhouses.

4. Juliet

These elongated mini Roma-type tomatoes offer crack-resistant fruits with excellent keeping quality. At 1-2 inches long, they’re slightly larger than typical cherry tomatoes but share the same convenience. Juliet won an All-America Selection award for its disease resistance and productivity.

5. Yellow Pear

Dating back to the 1700s, these distinctive pear-shaped yellow fruits bring charm and mild, low-acid flavor to your garden. Their unique shape makes them perfect for children’s gardens and decorative dishes. Each plant produces hundreds of 1-inch fruits.

6. Sun Sugar

Similar to Sungold but with higher crack resistance, Sun Sugar produces sweet orange fruits with thin skins and exceptional tropical flavor notes. In blind taste tests, many gardeners prefer Sun Sugar’s slightly more complex flavor profile to Sungold’s pure sweetness.

7. Sweet Million

True to its name, this prolific variety produces incredibly long clusters of sweet red cherry tomatoes. Its improved disease resistance, particularly to late blight, makes it ideal for challenging growing conditions. Plants can reach over 6 feet tall.

8. Matt’s Wild Cherry

These tiny, intensely flavored fruits are closest to the wild tomatoes of South America. Their naturally high lycopene content (nearly 40% higher than hybrid varieties) offers enhanced health benefits. The sprawling plants resist most common tomato diseases while producing hundreds of dime-sized fruits.

9. Green Grape

These unique yellowish-green cherry tomatoes offer a distinctive sweet-tart flavor with subtle fruity undertones. Their chlorophyll content provides different nutritional benefits than red varieties. Green Grape produces abundant clusters on compact plants ideal for smaller spaces.

10. Chocolate Cherry

Featuring rich brown-red fruits with complex flavor, Chocolate Cherry offers the perfect balance between sweetness and acidity. The 1-inch fruits grow in abundant clusters on indeterminate vines and resist cracking better than many other dark varieties.

11. Blush

These stunning elongated fruits start gold and develop red stripes as they ripen. Their unique appearance is matched by exceptional flavor that consistently wins taste tests. Blush produces fruits over an exceptionally long season, often the first to ripen and last to finish.

12. Principe Borghese

The classic Italian drying tomato, these egg-shaped small fruits have less water content than other cherry varieties (about 20% less), making them perfect for sun-drying. They offer concentrated tomato flavor in meaty little packages on semi-determinate plants.

13. Blue Berries

A newer variety featuring deep purple-blue fruits that develop when exposed to sunlight. Their anthocyanin-rich skin offers enhanced antioxidant properties, while their flavor balances sweetness with classic tomato richness. The small, productive plants work well in containers.

14. Cherry Bomb

These disease-resistant red cherry tomatoes were specifically bred for northern gardens with shorter seasons. They mature in just 64 days (about two weeks faster than average varieties) while delivering excellent classic tomato flavor and crack resistance.

Growing Tips for Cherry Tomato Success

For optimal results with these exceptional varieties, provide:

• Full sun (minimum 6-8 hours daily)
• Well-draining, fertile soil amended with compost
• Regular, consistent watering (1-2 inches weekly)
• Support structures (most are indeterminate varieties)
• Weekly feeding with balanced organic fertilizer once fruiting begins

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Overcrowding plants (most cherry varieties need 2-3 feet spacing)
• Inconsistent watering (causes fruit splitting)
• Planting too early (soil temperature should reach 60°F)
• Inadequate support (cherry tomato plants can reach 6-8 feet tall)
• Harvesting too early (wait for full color development for best flavor)

Storing Tips for Your Harvest

Cherry tomatoes are best stored at room temperature, never in the refrigerator, as cold temperatures destroy their flavor compounds. For maximum shelf life:

• Store unwashed with stems attached
• Arrange in a single layer rather than piled together
• Keep out of direct sunlight
• Use within 5-7 days for best flavor

For preservation, most cherry varieties make excellent sun-dried tomatoes or can be frozen whole for winter use.

Conclusion

Cherry tomatoes offer the perfect combination of easy growing, abundant harvests, and exceptional flavor. By selecting from these 14 outstanding varieties, you can create a garden that provides a rainbow of colors, flavors, and uses throughout the growing season. Whether you’re a novice gardener with limited space or an experienced grower looking to expand your tomato repertoire, these carefully selected varieties promise rewarding results.

FAQs

Which cherry tomato variety is sweetest?
Sungold consistently ranks as the sweetest cherry tomato, with Brix readings up to 9.3, followed closely by Sun Sugar and Supersweet 100.

What’s the most disease-resistant cherry tomato?
Cherry Bomb and Juliet offer exceptional disease resistance, particularly to late blight and cracking issues common in cherry varieties.

Can cherry tomatoes be grown in containers?
Absolutely! Varieties like Green Grape, Blue Berries, and Principe Borghese perform exceptionally well in containers (minimum 5-gallon size).

Which cherry tomato produces the highest yield?
Supersweet 100 typically produces the highest yields, with a single healthy plant capable of producing over 1,000 fruits in a season.

What cherry tomato varieties work best for salads?
For salads, choose varieties with thick skins that resist popping, like Juliet, Cherry Bomb, and Matt’s Wild Cherry.