Tomato Cherry Yellow

The Cherry Yellow Tomato is a variety of Cherry type with abundant production. It offers numerous small, sweet yellow fruits, which will brighten up aperitifs with friends or picnics. Also consider this variety if you want to introduce the taste of tomatoes to your children. They love the tiny fruits with vibrant colors that can be eaten straight from the vegetable garden. Plug plants can be planted from April to June after the last frost when the plants have reached about fifteen centimeters. The Cherry Yellow Tomato is harvested from July to October.

The Tomato is native to South America and Central America. Several varieties were already cultivated by the Incas long before the arrival of the Conquistadors. The term "Tomate" comes from the Inca "Tomatl" and refers to both the plant and the fruit it produces. It is one of the many foods that came to us from the New World, just like beans, corn, squash, potatoes, and chili peppers. The Tomato took much longer to reach our taste buds. The reason being: it was long cultivated for its aesthetic and medicinal qualities, but it was considered toxic due to its resemblance to the fruit of the Mandrake, another member of the Solanaceae family. It only became a regular on our tables from the early 20th century.

The Tomato is a perennial herbaceous plant in tropical climates, but it is grown as an annual in our latitudes. It becomes woody over time and produces small, insignificant yellow flowers clustered in cymes that will turn into fruits. Tomatoes can be grown in open ground but can also be grown in containers on a balcony, preferably using varieties with compact growth.

It is a fruit vegetable with many nutritional benefits. Low in calories like most vegetables, rich in water, it contains a particularly interesting molecule: lycopene, a powerful antioxidant. It is also rich in vitamin C, provitamin A, and trace elements.

In terms of cuisine, tomatoes can be consumed raw or cooked in various ways: in salads or as appetizers, grilled, stuffed, marinated, preserved, or in sauces... They come in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Take advantage of this and grow several varieties in your vegetable garden to enjoy a variety of flavors!

Harvesting: Harvest periods vary depending on the earliness: early varieties are harvested 55 to 70 days after planting, mid-season varieties from 70 to 85 days, and late varieties beyond 85 days. Harvesting is done when the Tomato takes on its final color and when its texture, while remaining firm, shows a slight softening. For better preservation, make sure to pick the fruit with its calyx. Be careful, immature fruits, stems, and leaves contain solanine and should not be consumed.

Storage: The optimal storage temperature for tomatoes is between 10 and 15°C (50 and 59°F). Refrigeration is possible but alters the taste qualities of the fruits. For longer storage, tomatoes can be preserved by confit, drying, freezing, canning, or cooking into jam. To confit them, cut your tomatoes in half and harvest their juice. Place your half tomatoes face up on a baking sheet. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar, then bake at a very low temperature for at least an hour. Remove your tomatoes, store them in a glass jar, and cover with olive oil.

Gardener's Tip: To reduce watering, we recommend mulching the soil with thin successive layers of grass clippings, if possible mixed with dead leaves. This protective layer, which keeps the soil moist, also helps to limit weeding.