# Cherry tomato
**Cherry tomato** is a small-fruited tomato, botanically *Solanum lycopersicum* var. *cerasiforme*, bearing round fruits typically the size of a cherry and eaten fresh in salads and as a snack. The variety group is indigenous to the Peru–Ecuador area and is most likely the ancestor of modern large-fruited cultivated tomatoes[1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato). Today it is grown worldwide, both commercially in greenhouses and in home gardens, and is prized for sweetness, early harvest, and disease tolerance.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | *Solanum lycopersicum* var. *cerasiforme* (also cited as *Lycopersicon esculentum* var. *cerasiforme*)[1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato) • [2](https://welbaum.spes.vt.edu/vegetable-crops/lessons/tomato/tomato_page01.html) |
| Origin | Indigenous to the Peru–Ecuador area; domestication probably initiated in Central Mexico, where the Aztecs called the fruit *tomatl* or *xtomatl*[1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato) |
| First European description | Small tomatoes described by Gaspard Bauhin in *Pinax Theatri Botanici* (1623), one kind with "clusters in the form of cherries"[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/) |
| Modern popularization | Became a common feature of Western meals only in the 1980s, after Marks & Spencer commissioned a shelf-stable commercial variety in the 1970s[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/) |
| Sugar content context | Wild tomato species reach 10–15% total soluble solids in fruit, compared with 4–6% in cultivated varieties, a resource for breeding sweeter types[4](https://one.oecd.org/document/ENV/JM/MONO%282016%2953/en/pdf) |
| Greenhouse performance | Indeterminate cherry varieties grow well under greenhouse conditions; in a Guangdong substrate-culture trial, Yuekeda 206 yielded 69,601.95 kg/hm² with a 113-day harvest period[5](https://www.icar-ciah.org/include/pdf/technical_bulletin/2018/protected_cultivation.pdf) • [6](https://cnki.istiz.org.cn/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD2026&filename=AHNY202602008) |
## Origin and domestication
Wild tomato species grow naturally in western South America, occurring from Ecuador southward to northern Chile as well as on the Galapagos Islands.[7](https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=137160) The cherry tomato, *S. lycopersicum* var. *cerasiforme*, is spontaneous throughout tropical and subtropical America and is considered the probable progenitor of the cultivated tomato[2](https://welbaum.spes.vt.edu/vegetable-crops/lessons/tomato/tomato_page01.html). Its fruit is larger than that of the related currant tomato (*S. pimpinellifolium*), commonly round and red, and the subspecies is thought to be the direct ancestor of cultivated tomato because of its diversity, its wide occurrence in [Central America](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-america), and its close genetic relationship with cultivated types[8](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967).
Domestication probably began in Central Mexico, where the Aztecs used the fruit in cooking under the names *tomatl* or *xtomatl*, the source of the English word tomato[1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato). Spanish colonizers carried tomatoes to the Caribbean, the Philippines, and southern Europe; tomatoes were recorded in Italy by 1544 and were definitely used as food in the Mediterranean by the mid-16th century, though acceptance in northwestern Europe was slow[1](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato). Two competing hypotheses place domestication origin in Peru or in Mexico, and a parallel origin in both areas cannot be discounted[7](https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=137160).
## History of the modern cherry tomato
The first European description of small tomatoes appears in Gaspard Bauhin's *Pinax Theatri Botanici* of 1623, which described one kind as having "clusters in the form of cherries", indicating that cherry-type tomatoes existed in the early 1600s[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/).
Several origin claims compete. The Greek island of [Santorini](https://www.edgepedia.org/santorini) has long claimed that the cherry tomato was first bred on its shores, and in 2013 the European Union gave Greece's "Tomataki Santorini" breed protected status; researchers, however, attribute the breed's small size to the island's nutrient-poor volcanic soil and dry climate rather than to deliberate breeding[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/). The Israeli government has claimed for decades that Israeli growers invented the cherry tomato, but the cherry tomato was already popular before Israeli scientists bred a variety that could be packed, shipped, and sold before spoiling[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/).
**Commercialization.** The cherry tomato did not become a standard feature of Western meals until the 1980s. In the 1970s the owner of the British retailer [Marks & Spencer](https://www.edgepedia.org/marks-and-spencer) sought a commercial tomato that tasted good and, with local growers and Israeli food scientists, developed a shelf-stable, sweeter cherry tomato. The British grower Bernard Sparkes experimented with the variety "Gardener's Delight" while Israeli scientists bred seed for uniform rows and longer shelf life; Marks & Spencer then sold the fruit in its produce sections, starting a worldwide demand[3](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/).
## Genetics and breeding
Fruit size in tomato is quantitatively inherited. The best-studied locus is fw2.2, the second fruit-weight QTL on chromosome 2, whose underlying gene regulates cell division; the large-fruited allele is present in most cultivated tomatoes[8](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967). Cherry-type germplasm remains valuable in breeding: the ovate gene, which gives pear-shaped fruit, was cloned from the cherry variety 'Yellow Pear', implying the mutation arose in the progenitor subspecies and persisted in cultivated material[8](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967).
Ripening genetics also differ by market class. The ripening mutation *rin* is used in large-fruited fresh-market tomatoes, while the use of *nor* is restricted mainly to cherry tomatoes[8](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967). Wild species carry fruit total soluble solids of 10–15% against 4–6% in cultivars, and alleles such as a *brix* allele from *S. pennellii* have been introgressed to raise sugar content[4](https://one.oecd.org/document/ENV/JM/MONO%282016%2953/en/pdf) • [8](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967).
## Cultivation
Tomato growth is temperature-sensitive: temperatures below 15 °C and above 27 °C are not suitable for growth and development, and loam and sandy loam soils are suitable for production[5](https://www.icar-ciah.org/include/pdf/technical_bulletin/2018/protected_cultivation.pdf). Indeterminate cherry varieties, which keep growing and fruiting on one vine, perform particularly well under greenhouse conditions[5](https://www.icar-ciah.org/include/pdf/technical_bulletin/2018/protected_cultivation.pdf).
Variety trials illustrate the range of performance. In a substrate-culture comparison in the mountainous area of northeastern [Guangdong](https://www.edgepedia.org/guangdong), three varieties from the Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences were tested under low winter light and high humidity; Yuekeda 101 reached first harvest 5 to 8 days sooner than the others, with a plant height of 169.13 cm and stem diameter of 0.93 cm at 42 days after transplanting, while Yuekeda 206 gave the highest yield, 69,601.95 kg/hm², and the longest harvest period, 113 days[6](https://cnki.istiz.org.cn/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD2026&filename=AHNY202602008).
Cherry types also show distinctive stress behavior. In [Oregon State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/oregon-state-university) dry-farm trials in western Oregon, cherry tomatoes were dropped from the trial after the first year because all varieties tested were resistant to blossom end rot, a physiological disorder that affected the larger-fruited classes[9](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-9687-dry-farm-tomato-production-western-oregon). Disease resistance, however, is not immunity: in Cornell's evaluations of late blight resistant varieties, symptomatic fruit was recorded on the resistant cherry cultivar Jasper and on Matt's Wild Cherry[10](https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/disease-resistant-vegetable-varieties/evaluation-of-late-blight-resistant-tomato-varieties/).
## Fruit quality
Soluble solids content and firmness are the two key metrics for evaluating cherry tomato fruit quality, and hyperspectral imaging has been studied as a non-destructive method to measure both[11](https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.05199). Flavor depends on the balance of sugars and acids, and increasing sugar and acid content has long been identified as a route to better tomato flavor[12](https://www.casb.org.cn/CN/Y2018/V34/I25/52). Grafting cherry tomato hybrids onto *Solanum* rootstocks is used to manage bacterial wilt (*Ralstonia solanacearum*) in infested greenhouse soil while maintaining yield and fruit quality[13](https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/7/1311).
## References
1. [Cherry Tomato – an overview, ScienceDirect Topics](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/food-science/cherry-tomato)
2. [Horticulture 4764: Tomato, Origin and History, Virginia Tech](https://welbaum.spes.vt.edu/vegetable-crops/lessons/tomato/tomato_page01.html)
3. [The Contentious History of the Cherry Tomato, Smithsonian Magazine](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/contentious-history-cherry-tomato-180959420/)
4. [ENV/JM/MONO(2016)53, OECD Consensus Document on the Biology of Tomato](https://one.oecd.org/document/ENV/JM/MONO%282016%2953/en/pdf)
5. [Greenhouse Cultivation of Tomato, ICAR-CIAH Technical Bulletin No. 69](https://www.icar-ciah.org/include/pdf/technical_bulletin/2018/protected_cultivation.pdf)
6. [不同品种樱桃番茄在粤东北山区设施栽培对比试验, CNKI](https://cnki.istiz.org.cn/kcms/detail/detail.aspx?dbcode=CJFD&dbname=CJFD2026&filename=AHNY202602008)
7. [History, Origin and Early Cultivation of Tomato (Solanaceae), USDA ARS](https://www.ars.usda.gov/research/publications/publication/?seqNo115=137160)
8. [Genetic and molecular regulation of fruit and plant domestication traits in tomato and pepper, Journal of Experimental Botany](https://academic.oup.com/jxb/article/58/14/3841/463967)
9. [Dry farm tomato production in Western Oregon, OSU Extension Service](https://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/em-9687-dry-farm-tomato-production-western-oregon)
10. [Evaluation of late blight resistant tomato varieties, Cornell Vegetables](https://www.vegetables.cornell.edu/pest-management/disease-factsheets/disease-resistant-vegetable-varieties/evaluation-of-late-blight-resistant-tomato-varieties/)
11. [Hyperspectral Imaging for cherry tomato, arXiv](https://arxiv.org/abs/2203.05199)
12. [环境对不同果色樱桃番茄生长发育、品质及产量的影响, CASB](https://www.casb.org.cn/CN/Y2018/V34/I25/52)
13. [Productive Characteristics and Fruit Quality Traits of Cherry Tomato Hybrids as Modulated by Grafting, Agronomy (MDPI)](https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/11/7/1311)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Plants and algae › Cultivars and cultivated forms › Vegetable, herb, and staple crop cultivars › Solanaceous crop cultivars*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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