Tomato, tomahto

Most cooks use cherry tomatoes and grape tomatoes interchangeably and likely many people believe they are essentially the same. However, they actually have different flavor profiles and textures, says Serious Eat’s Brandon Summers-Miller. He breaks down the differences, noting which type is best suited to various dishes.

To find out more about the differences between the two, Summers-Miller asked a tomato expert, Craig LeHoullier, who has written a bestselling book about the subject titled Epic Tomatoes: How to Select and Grow the Best Varieties of All Time. LeHoullier explained that while cherry tomatoes have been around for centuries, the grape tomato is a more recent arrival, first arriving in the US about 30 years ago. Only two varieties are commonly found, the Santa and Juliet cultivars (they totally missed a wonderful naming opportunity, but given the outcome of the play, maybe it is better this way).

Grape tomatoes differ from their cherry relatives in a few key ways. First is the shape, which is self-explanatory, followed by the color. Cherry tomatoes come in many hues, but grape tomatoes are generally red, with yellow or orange varieties rarely making an appearance. Flavor and texture where the key differences come to play. Grape tomatoes are sweeter than most varieties of cherry tomatoes with a few exceptions like Sungold, which was bred for sweetness. Cherry tomatoes are usually juicier than grape tomatoes, which tend to be firmer. The skins of grape tomatoes are a bit tougher than cherry tomatoes, making them marginally easier to slice and allowing them to hold their shape better after cooking.

Going back to the original premise, it’s fine to use them interchangeably, although there are some applications where one would be slightly more well-suited than the other. Serious Eats editorial director Daniel Gritzer. prefers using cherry tomatoes if you want to do something “like a burst-tomato pasta sauce, since they’ll break down more quickly and release more juices than most grape tomatoes.” If you don’t want as much liquid in your final dish, grape tomatoes are the better choice.