If you've ever craved a tomato with an intense, complex flavor that bursts in your mouth with a tiny explosion of sweetness and tang, then look no further than the currant tomato! While the fruits may be petite, their flavor certainly isn't, and the plant itself offers an impressive resilience that makes them an excellent additional to any home garden.
A Botanical Biography
Currant tomatoes (Solanum pimpinellifolium) are native to the Andean region of South America, where they were first cultivated by indigenous peoples in what is now Peru, Ecuador, and northern Chile. They're a close relative and likely progenitor of all modern tomato varieties (Solanum lycopersicum), and their small, round, and colorful fruits were crucial in the domestication process that led to the large and diverse tomatoes that are now common worldwide.
Cultivating Wild Tomatoes
Currant tomatoes are surprisingly easy to grow, and their robust disease resistance and high tolerance to heat and drought makes them an excellent choice for growing here in Southwest Florida. They'll adapt to just about any region in the United States, though, and locations with warm spring days and cool nights will see them at their very best.
Here's the process we use to grow these impressive plants:
Germination: Seeds should be started indoors 6 to 8 weeks before the last expected spring frost. Sow them in warm, moist soil and provide ample light. The key point here is that you'll need to allow for a longer germination time for wild tomatoes, which can take up to 3 weeks for some varieties. We highly recommend using a heating mat and humidity dome, as wild tomatoes are more sensitive to variations in soil temperature than most modern cultivars.
Transplanting: Harden off the seedlings and transplant outdoors once the danger of frost has passed. When you're ready to plant them in your garden, be sure you select location with full sun and enough room to space the plants at least 18 to 24 inches apart.
Support: Wild tomatoes tend to grow laterally with vigorous, sinewy vines that we find impossible to confine to a trellis or cage. Last year, one of our Matt's WIld Cherry plants (which came up volunteer from the previous year's planting) spread out about 12 feet by 6 feet and went on to produce a truly astounding number of fruits. The lessen here? Just leave the plants to grow how they'd like, and they'll give you all the tomatoes you (and likely your family and neighbors, too) could ever want for a growing season!
If you don't have a lot of room your garden, wild cultivars will do just fine in containers. They may not grow to quite so impressive a size, but they'll still produce a copious amount of fruits.
Watering: Water regularly, especially during hot weather, but be sure to avoid overwatering.
Harvesting: Fruits should be picked as they ripen, usually starting around 70 to 80 days after planting depending on the variety. Enjoy them fresh in salads, salsas, or preserves, or simply eat them right off the vine!
A Rainbow of Varieties
Currant tomatoes come in a delightful array of colors and flavors, offering something for everyone's palate. Here are some of my favorites:
Florida Wild Everglades Tomato: Pink fruits with a sweet, intense burst of that ‘old timey’ tomato flavor.
Coyote Tomato: Ivory, translucent lemon yellow fruits with sweet and unusual flavor overtones, including vanilla.
Matt's Wild Cherry: Fire-engine red fruits with a rich, complex flavor.
Golden Currant: Bright orange fruits with a sweet, almost citrusy taste.
Yellow Currant: Similar to Golden Currant but with a milder flavor.
Rote Murmel: Pink fruits with a slightly smoky flavor.
Sweet Pea: Pink fruits with a very sweet, candy-like taste.
Hawaiian Red Currant: Deep red fruits with a tropical sweetness.
Though we grow and sell a wonderful variety of modern tomato cultivars, wild currant tomatoes are truly something special, and are by far our favorite tomatoes to grow. We encourage you to give them a try, and once you do we're certain you'll continue to grow them for many years to come!
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