Tomato Tomahto.
A tomato cultivar guide for home gardeners. 204 varieties, scored for flavor, climate, kitchen use, and disease resistance.
Aviculare tomato, watercolor by Bertha Heiges, 1903. USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection.
Three ways to find a tomato.
The picker asks a few questions about your ZIP, kitchen, space, and growing conditions, then narrows 204 cultivars down to a shortlist of five. Cuisine pages map kitchen tradition (Tamil rasam, Italian sauce, Mexican salsa) to the cultivars that fit, with optional zone filtering. Or browse the full database directly with sortable filters for ripening, fruit size, disease resistance, and research confidence.
Pick by what you cook.
Cuisine pages map kitchen tradition to cultivars in the database. Tamil rasam wants acidic juicy slicers, not paste. Italian sauce wants paste varieties with low gel and dense flesh. Mexican salsa wants something between the two. Flavor and use are separate axes here, so you can browse straight from the kitchen you cook in.
Italian and Mediterranean
Tomatoes for sauce, pizza, and panzanella.
Indian and South Asian
Tomatoes for rasam, sambar, and curry bases.
Latin and Mexican
Tomatoes for salsa, pico, and guisos.
American garden
Tomatoes for the BLT and the backyard cherry.
Snacking and salads
Cherry, grape, and currant types for eating fresh.
Preserving and canning
Paste types for sauce, ketchup, and cold-pack canning.
Korean
Tomatoes for cold-sliced fruit, jjigae, and tomato kimchi.
Japanese
Tomatoes for cold salads, hiyashi chuka, and the Momotaro fresh-eating tradition.
South American and Caribbean
Tomatoes for refogados, salsa criolla, and ensalada criolla.
Middle Eastern and Levantine
Tomatoes for fattoush, shakshuka, and Israeli salad.
Eastern European
Tomatoes for zupa pomidorowa, paprikás, and lecsó.
Why pick a variety carefully.
Tomatoes vary more than most crops. A 90-day Mediterranean paste tomato will not ripen in a Vermont garden. A one-pound beefsteak will sprawl beyond most patio pots. A flavor-bred heirloom will catch late blight in a wet August and lose half its fruit before it ripens. Picking from the wrong shelf wastes a season.
A catalog lists what it sells. This site scores each cultivar across the dimensions that matter at planting time, so you can match a tomato to your kitchen, your climate, and the way you grow.
Four broad shapes.
Most tomatoes fall into one of four kitchen archetypes. Your use case usually decides which shelf to start on.
Slicing
Sandwich tomatoes. Four to twelve ounces, juicy, round. Brandywine, Better Boy, Cherokee Purple.
Snacking
Cherry and grape types, eat by the handful. Sun Gold, Matt's Wild Cherry, Sweet 100.
Paste
Sauce and canning. Dense flesh, low water content. San Marzano, Roma VF, Amish Paste.
Beefsteak
One pound and up. Showpiece slicers for sandwiches and tomato salads. Mortgage Lifter, Black Krim, Pruden's Purple.
Browse all 204 varieties.
Sortable on category, ripening, fruit size, disease resistance, late blight, and research confidence. Searchable. Each entry links to its sources.
Open the databaseWhere the data comes from.
Every cultivar entry is sourced. Recurring references include peer-reviewed flavor research, university extension publications, USDA records, and breeder catalogs.
- Tieman et al. 2017, Science: 398-accession trained-panel flavor study
- Colantonio et al. 2022, PNAS: 153-variety metabolomic flavor selection
- Klee Lab, University of Florida (Garden Gem, Tasti-Lee, flavor breeding)
- Cornell Vegetable MD Online disease resistance database
- Extension publications: UMaine, UMass, UVM, NC State, UF, Cornell
- USDA GRIN germplasm records
- US Plant Patents (Google Patents)
- Breeder catalogs: Johnny's, Fedco, Baker Creek, Seeds of India, High Mowing
Frequently asked.
What's the difference between determinate and indeterminate?
Determinate varieties grow to a fixed size, set fruit in a concentrated window of two to three weeks, then stop. They suit canning, container growing, and short-season climates. Indeterminate varieties keep growing and producing until frost kills them, need staking or caging, and reward season-long care with continuous harvest.
What is late blight, and why does it matter?
Late blight is a fungal disease (Phytophthora infestans) that thrives in cool wet weather and can wipe out a tomato planting in days. It's the same pathogen that caused the Irish potato famine. In wet Northeast and Pacific Northwest summers, choosing a resistant cultivar (Defiant PHR, Iron Lady, Mountain Magic, Plum Regal) can mean the difference between a full harvest and a total loss.
How do I read the confidence ratings?
High confidence: peer-reviewed sensory or chemistry data from named studies (Tieman 2017, Colantonio 2022, Klee lab). Medium-high: a peer-reviewed source with caveats, or a strong extension publication. Medium: extension publications, breeder catalogs, and gardener consensus, internally consistent. Low-medium and low: limited data, often older varieties with unverified provenance. The picker weights confidence into its scoring so high-confidence cultivars are surfaced first when matches are otherwise tied.
Do I need to start tomatoes from seed indoors?
You can, but you don't have to. Most home gardeners buy transplants in May from a local nursery. Starting from seed gives you access to varieties (most heirlooms, regional cultivars, anything with peer-reviewed flavor pedigree) that big-box nurseries won't carry. Indoor seed starting is six to eight weeks before your last frost date.
What's the difference between heirloom and hybrid?
Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated, often more than 50 years old, and breed true from seed. They're typically prized for flavor and visual character but can be susceptible to disease and uneven in fruit set. Hybrids (F1) are crosses between two parent lines, usually bred for disease resistance, yield, or shipping durability. They don't breed true from seed. Modern flavor-recovery hybrids (Garden Gem, Tasti-Lee) try to combine heirloom flavor with hybrid vigor.
Are any of these GMO?
None of the cultivars in this database are genetically modified. There are no GMO tomatoes commercially available to home gardeners in the United States. All "hybrids" listed here are conventional crosses, not transgenic.
How many tomato plants do I need?
One indeterminate plant produces 10 to 20 pounds in a season. Determinates produce 5 to 10 pounds in a concentrated window. A family of four eating fresh wants 2 to 4 indeterminate plants. A family planning to can sauce wants 6 to 12 paste-type plants. Plant more if your patch has good sun (8+ hours) and good airflow.
Can I grow tomatoes in containers?
Yes, but choose determinate or compact varieties. Patio Choice, Tiny Tim, Bush Early Girl, Balcony Miracle, and Maglia Rosa Cherry all do well in 5 to 10 gallon containers. Beefsteaks and full-size indeterminates need 15+ gallons and consistent watering, and even then they underperform compared to in-ground plants.
When do I transplant outside?
After your average last frost date and once soil temperature reaches 60°F (15°C). For Zone 6 (Boston, mid-Atlantic, lower Midwest) that's mid to late May. For Zone 5 (upper Midwest, northern New England), early June. Transplanting too early into cold soil stunts the plant and delays fruiting more than waiting an extra two weeks would.
Does the picker work for my region?
The picker uses USDA hardiness zones (3 through 10) for its first hard filter. Cultivars are tagged with the zones they perform reliably in. If you're outside the United States, look up your equivalent USDA zone and use it as input. The disease-pressure question lets you flag wet-summer climates regardless of zone.
All 204 varieties.
Sortable, searchable, and filterable. Click any row to expand its full sourcing notes and care detail.