Tomato Review #1 Red Currant–The World’s Smallest Tomato

Due to poor planning in our garden this year we’ve had a bit of a “need to get produce at the supermarket” gap. Ironically, the first bit of homegrown produce to appear this summer came in the form of what we’re calling the world’s smallest tomato: an heirloom variety Mrs. Homegrown Evolution picked up at this year’s Tomato Mania sale called Red Currant (Solanum pimpinellifolium). This is a domesticated version of wild tomato plants originating in Mexico, and produces fruit measuring about one centimeter across. Red Currant is an indeterminate tomato, with a delicious, sweet taste. A malfunctioning drip line has has meant that our specimen probably did not get enough water, but nevertheless it has managed to produce fruit despite looking unhappy. If we had more than the paltry number we’ve produced, they’d make for a tasty addition to a salad. That malfunctioning drip line means that all we have is enough for the world’s smallest BLT. If only we could find a pig the size of a cellphone.

Leave a comment

5 Comments

  1. We grew White Currants last year, and LOVED them. I think some form of Currant tomato will become a staple in our garden.

  2. I came home from a plant swap with a small wild texas currant tomato plant. That tiny little plant ended up with a four foot spread and produced a steady supply of currant tomatoes from July to October. (There were occasional tomatoes through November.) Unfortunately, I didn’t discover that my new husband hated cherry, grape, and currant tomatoes until it started producing. Too bad, because it was happy with minimal watering, and was resistance to a lot of the problems I have with normal tomatoes. If I ever find one again, he’ll have to eat ’em anyway.

  3. snarkygurl,

    Knock some sense into that man! This is grounds for divorce. I’ve always found that our cherry tomatoes do better and taste sweeter than regular sized tomatoes.

  4. it´s a tomberrie, you can google it. there is a Dutch compangni (eminent) that sale´s them (most in Europe)

Comments are closed.