Growers’ Notes and Photos (USDA Zone 5 & Wild Currant Trials)
The tiniest tomatoes on earth, literally the size of green peas. Yields reliably no matter what the weather does. Frequently planted along fence lines to create a thick living hedge. Pumps out up to 6.5 lbs (3 kg) per plant. Incredibly sweet, keeping production going right up until hard frost. Extremely resistant to all common tomato diseases. A rare wild currant variety used fresh, for whole-pack canning, or dehydrated into sweet winter treats.
My own two cents: these are completely bulletproof tomatoes. They never get sick with anything and couldn’t care less about crazy weather swings.
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Andrey3812: …these are completely bulletproof tomatoes. They never get sick with anything and couldn’t care less about crazy weather swings.
Could not agree more! On top of that, mine come up as self-sown volunteers every spring. The volunteer fruit stay quite tiny, but there are so many of them they create an absolute jungle across the patch.
I make a point of starting two plants indoors each year just to get slightly bigger berries. For fresh table eating, the skins are a bit too thick and snappy. But for canning? They are fantastic! I use them as jar-fillers to pack into all the empty gaps between my big canning tomatoes. My family devours every last one and calls them “tomato berries.”
I also shared some started seedlings with a friend whose kid refused to touch regular tomatoes, and the kid ate these by the handful. Got some serious gratitude for those plants!
Edited December 12, 2022 by NatalyaG
Quick Facts: Variety Summary
- 🌿 Growth Habit: Wild indeterminate currant vine (*Solanum pimpinellifolium*). Highly branching, vigorous runner habit that thrives on chain-link fences or sturdy field fencing. Self-sows readily in cold northern gardens.
- 🍅 Fruit Profile: True pea-sized currant tomatoes weighing a fraction of an ounce (1-2 g). Deep scarlet color with firm, crack-resistant skins and an intense sweet pop when bitten into.
- 📈 Disease & Weather Hardiness: Exceptional vigor. Exhibits natural tolerance or field resistance to late blight, early blight, and common foliar diseases that devastate standard heirloom lines.
- 🍳 Kitchen Uses: Due to thick skins, they shine best dehydrated whole into chewy tomato “raisins”, tossed into kid-friendly snack bowls, or used as edible space-fillers in glass canning jars.
Sweet Pea belongs to the wild species Solanum pimpinellifolium, rather than the common domestic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). These wild currants carry natural genetic resistance to a wide battery of fungal and viral pathogens, which is why commercial breeders frequently use them as rootstock donors. Once established, dropped berries will readily survive freezing sub-zero winter soils, emerging as spontaneous, vigorous volunteers each spring.
