The Best Tomatoes For Snacking On This Fall

Fall might be apple season, but the sweetest snack hiding in plain sight is the cherry tomato. Juicy, bright, and easy to pop by the handful, these little gems deserve a spot in your lineup this season. Of the nine common tomato varieties, some are good for sauces and some for sandwiches, but cherry tomatoes the only kind truly perfect for snacking. Literally bursting with fresh tomato flavor, these tiny globes should not be confused with grape tomatoes, which are oblong and less flavorful.

Cherry tomatoes come in several varieties, each with its own flavor and color. If there's anything the internet agrees on, it's that sungold tomatoes are the best cherry tomato. (Super Sweet 100 gets an honorable mention as it's popular with people who grow their own because the plant is more disease-resistant.) Golden-orange in color, "sungold cherry tomatoes have a crisp, tender, and juicy, popping consistency with an exceptionally sweet, fruity flavor mixed with savory, tropical undertones," the experts at SpecialtyProduce.com say. This variety is also high in potassium and vitamins A and C. 

And sungolds aren't just tasty. In Japan, where they were originally developed, spa menus celebrate sungolds as a main ingredient in face and body treatments.

The flavorful sungold cherry tomatoes should not be contained to just a snack food or the spa. You can (and should) serve them on top of salads, but they can accompany a lot of other dishes as well. Options include pasta with sungold tomato sauce, a salad with tomato vinaigrette (either roasted or fresh-squeezed), and tomato jam. You can also pair cherry tomatoes with strawberries for the best homemade pizza. The sweetness of the strawberries balances the tomatoes' acidity, and together, playing off the saltiness from the cheese? Slam dunk.

"Sungold cherry tomatoes pair well with fruits such as peaches, berries, and coconut, hummus, meats such as poultry, pork, and beef, mussels, cheeses such as parmesan, burrata, feta, and goat, herbs such as basil, mint, and cilantro, zucchini, and snap peas," says SpecialtyProduce.com, so your sungold culinary adventures are endless, no matter how you're preparing them. If you need a bunch, use the genius hack for slicing lots of cherry tomatoes all at once. The next time you're at the grocery store, find a carton of sungolds in the same area as the other tomatoes. You won't be disappointed.