Choosing planting

How to choose cherry tomatoes or cocktail tomatoes?

Our tips for selecting your young tomato plants.

Contents

Modified the 19 January 2026 by Pascale 4 min. Difficulty: beginner

How can you imagine a summer aperitif without cherry tomatoes? Unmissable on summer tables, these little tomatoes, most often referred to as cherry tomatoes, are also known as cocktail tomatoes. Yet, a subtle difference (but a big one) helps distinguish these two species of tomatoes. Cherry tomatoes generally display a smaller size, roughly the size of a cherry (sometimes even smaller), and their weight ranges from 15 to 20 grams. Whereas cocktail tomatoes are larger, with a diameter about 1 cm greater and weighing around 30 to 50 grams. Additionally, cocktail tomatoes offer a sweeter, more fruity flavour, and have a softer skin. By contrast, these two species display a range of shapes and colours, allowing you to vary the pleasures.

For that matter, these small tomatoes are also notable for their ease of cultivation and productivity. In the ground or in pots, in the allotment, on a balcony or terrace, these small tomatoes delight both seasoned and aspiring gardeners. They form bushy plants and do not require any pruning. They are therefore ideal tomatoes for children who can grow and harvest them easily. Now to choose the right varieties…

We present our selection of the best cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes based on different criteria of taste, productivity, shape or colour.

Difficulty

Depending on flavour

Flavour is certainly one of the most important selection criteria when it comes to cherry tomatoes or cocktail tomatoes. Indeed, these small tomatoes often stand out for their level of acidity, more or less pronounced. Some tomatoes display a mild and very sweet flavour, while others are much more acidic or even sour. Many tomato enthusiasts opt for species with fruits tasty due to their sugar content. Some varieties really stand out.

To begin with, the indispensable cherry tomato ‘Sweetbaby’ which is certainly the sweetest, the most fragrant and therefore the tastiest. It is a species with tiny, perfectly round fruits in a very pretty scarlet red, borne in long panicles. It is an exceptionally productive variety that can yield up to 250 fruits per plant under good growing conditions and reach 1.5 m in height. Even when grown in a pot, this variety will be more productive when grown in open ground. Tomato enthusiasts are accustomed to describing this cherry tomato as candy, such is the deliciousness of its fruits.

Another cherry tomato variety is often described as candy: the ‘Green Doctor’s Frosted’ with fruits displaying a pretty colour ranging from yellow to light green. Again, this cherry tomato variety is renowned for the level of sugar in its fruits which allows them to be enjoyed in many ways. As for its flesh, it is firm and juicy.

The variety ‘Gold Nugget’ also offers fruits with a very pronounced sweet flavour, perfect for helping children appreciate the flavour of the tomato. This cherry tomato variety also produces small fruits (2–3 cm in diameter) in a very handsome saffron-yellow colour that undeniably evokes candies. Very productive and fruit-bearing, this variety hardly reaches 80 cm in height. It can be grown in pots as well as in open ground.

The varieties ‘Sweetbaby‘, ‘Green Doctor’s Frosted’ (©La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe) ‘Gold Nugget’ and ‘Black Cherry’ offer very sweet fruits

Another variety earns unanimous acclaim for flavour! It is the remarkable ‘Black Cherry’, with dark purplish-red fruits that can be quite deep, which sometimes seem almost black. The small tomatoes with crisp, firm flesh stand out for their distinctly sweet and gentle flavour. At summer aperitifs, they are ideal for adding colour and originality.

Depending on colour

Red colour is often closely linked to cherry tomatoes or cocktail tomatoes. However, to bring colour to the vegetable garden and to plates, it is also possible to grow varieties with fruits coloured in a range of hues. By planting in your garden a selection of cherry and cocktail tomatoes with coloured fruits, you should delight your loved ones at summer aperitifs. After all, nothing whets the appetite like variety and originality on the table!

If you want to stay red, yet add a touch of whimsy with the Black Zebra, which produces red-orange tomatoes striped with green, the Black Cherry with dark red tomatoes, or the German Lunch Box with ovate fruits in a red leaning toward pink.

For those who favour green cherry or cocktail tomatoes, several varieties stand out: besides Green Doctor’s Frosted, Green Envy offers small ovoid fruits in emerald green, a striking look, almost translucent at full ripeness, with a sweet flavour. We could also mention the variety Green Grape with very sweet and fragrant small fruits.

Yellow is also widely represented by cherry and cocktail tomatoes. First, the China-origin variety Topaz, which produces small yellow fruits striped with green, of very good flavour. It’s also hard to miss the variety Yellow Pear, whose tomatoes stand out not only for their yellow-orange colour but also for their pear shape. Finally, the cherry tomato Yellow is characterised by the density of small yellow fruits gathered in clusters.

Cherry or cocktail tomatoes also take on orange to brighten our tables. Thus, we can mention the Clémentine with flesh that is dense and juicy, the Sungold F1 which offers small fruits in a very bright orange, or the Mini Orange, a cocktail tomato variety that can reach 1.8 m in height.

The varieties Green Envy, Topaz (© La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe) and Mini Orange

But to assert its originality, nothing beats the Bosque Blue tomato! Of American origin, this cherry tomato offers fruits that progress from red to blue-violet to end indigo as they ripen. Colours become even more pronounced in the sun.

According to productivity

The varieties ‘Supersweet 100 F1’, ‘Barbaniaka’ and ‘Orange Berry’ (©La Ferme de Sainte-Marthe) are very productive

If cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes outstrip other tomato varieties in terms of harvest, some varieties prove more productive than others.

This is the case, for example, with ‘Supersweet 100 F1’, which forms an abundance of clusters bearing around twenty fruits each. It is a variety renowned for its productivity, yielding small tomatoes that are nonetheless numerous.

The hybrid variety ‘Baby Boomer’ is also highly productive due to its abundant harvest of small red fruits gathered in long clusters. This variety also features rapid growth.

Just like the Hungarian-origin variety ‘Barbaniaka’, which produces currant-sized tomatoes with a rather tangy flavour.

As for the variety ‘Aligote’, it is distinguished by its tomatoes of a fairly deep red that enjoy a very long shelf life. Its yield is very high.

For those who appreciate colour, the variety ‘Orange Berry’ is also very productive. It yields numerous fruits in a beautiful bright orange with a sweet flavour. Its clusters grow, forming garlands.

According to earliness

If most cherry tomatoes and cocktail tomatoes are harvested in July, some varieties prove earlier and reach onto our plates from June, provided that climatic conditions are, of course, favourable! Thus, the dwarf variety ‘Trumbling Tom Red’ is very early, producing small, scarlet fruits. It has a very attractive trailing habit, ideal for growing on a balcony, terrace or windowsill.

cherry tomato and cocktail The varieties ‘Trumbling Tom Red, ‘Trilly F1’ and ‘Brin de muguet’ are particularly earlyTrilly F1’ is also notable for its early fruiting. It yields cherry tomatoes in vivid red, with an elongated, pointed shape and velvety bluish foliage that should turn heads in every garden.