Cherry tomatoes are summer’s tiny treasures. Here’s how to use them.

In the world of tomatoes, good things truly do come in small packages.

Typically no larger than the size of a golf ball, cherry tomatoes are a prime example — with tender skin and a juicy interior, these tiny tomatoes offer a satisfying crunch and burst of concentrated flavor. At their peak, they’re a seasonal treasure best savored raw, but their taste can deepen when roasted, sautéed or simmered, adding pops of sweet acidity to a wide range of dishes.

In the garden, cherry tomatoes offer practical benefits as well. Home gardeners, for instance, appreciate how beginner-friendly they are — the relatively low-maintenance, high-yielding plant can even flourish in small containers on a windowsill or patio.

“Because of their small size, cherry tomatoes typically ripen earlier in the season and provide the first chance to use homegrown tomatoes in favorite recipes,” gardening educator Craig LeHoullier wrote in his book “Epic Tomatoes.”

Whether you’re growing your own or purchasing pints at the grocery store or farmers market, here’s what you need to know about selecting, storing and cooking with cherry tomatoes.

Cherry tomato varieties

Flip through any seed catalog or visit a garden center to see just how varied cherry tomatoes can be. Beyond the classic red orbs, they come in hues of orange, yellow, pink, green, white, purple, brown and black and can have striping or marbling.

Most tomatoes found in grocery stores are hybrids, bred by crossing two varieties for consistency and resiliency against disease. Heirlooms, on the other hand, are naturally pollinated without human intervention, and seeds have been passed down through generations with significance attached to them.

LeHoullier estimates he has grown more than 4,000 tomato varieties in his 44 years of gardening. What began as a hobby turned into a career; he transformed his driveway in Raleigh, North Carolina, into a full-on tomato lab, experimenting with hundreds of varieties at once and keeping detailed notes each season. Now living in Hendersonville, North Carolina, he offers tips from his garden via Instagram (@nctomatoman). In his book, LeHoullier compares tasting tomato varieties to a range of distinctly different beers, wines or chocolates. “There are more dominant flavor notes and a whole host of nuances and subtleties,” he wrote.

The most distinctive flavor traits, he said, are the balance between tartness and sweetness, the richness or blandness of flavor, and the overall complexity or simplicity of the taste. Cherry tomatoes with a tarter taste generally have lower sugar content while sweeter tomatoes contain more sugar, which can mask the sensation of acidity. And although some people generalize tomato colors with certain flavor notes, LeHoullier disagrees with this idea: “I identify as many exceptions as general rules when it comes to correlating color and flavor.”

One of the sweetest varieties when ripened — and LeHoullier’s favorite — is Sungolds. At their peak, these golden-orange hybrid tomatoes possess a sugary flavor that’s often compared to candy and tropical fruit.

The grape tomato is a classification of another small favorite. As the name states, these fruits are oblong and shaped like grapes. While they’re often used interchangeably with cherry tomatoes in cooking, they tend to be meatier with less moisture and thicker skins.

Other varieties to know:

• Super Sweet 100 (hybrid): A descendant of the popular Sweet 100, this red variety is bred for sweetness and resistance against targeted diseases.

• Galina (heirloom): Also referred to as Galina’s Yellow and Galina’s Yellow Cherry, it originated in Siberia. It’s subtly sweet and fragrant and has a thin skin.

• Black Cherry (heirloom): Reminiscent of the popular Cherokee Purple tomato, its coloring ranges from a dark purple to deep mahogany.

• Chocolate Sprinkles (hybrid): A shiny blend of deep red and green striping gives this variety an appearance that’s similar to rich chocolate. It’s often described as having a full-bodied flavor and a firm, crack-resistant skin.

Grocery store cherry tomatoes

While grocery store tomatoes often get a bad rap for flavor, cherry types tend to be an exception.

“As a general rule, you’ll have better luck buying smaller tomatoes out of season,” Alex Delany wrote for Bon Appetit. “Due to their size, they contain less water, which means with cherry tomatoes you’re going to end up with a more concentrated tomato-y flavor and less weird, seedy tomato water.”

Cookbook writer Martha Holmberg is unapologetically picky about her supermarket tomatoes. She won’t touch the large, bland slicing ones, but cherry tomatoes make the cut. “If your tomatoes are flat to begin with, you’re lost,” she said. “I’ll buy lots of the cherry types because they at least have a nice, bright dose of acidity.”

In any big-box grocery store in the United States, you’re likely to find tiny tomatoes stacked in plastic clamshell containers bearing names such as “Lolli Bombs” or “Sugar Bombs” that evoke sweetness and flavor.

These are not the varieties found in seed catalogs or at farmers markets, but rather the names of sub-brands created for mass retail. The seeds are often the proprietary property of growers, meaning they can’t be produced by anyone else. In some cases, companies own the total rights to seed varieties, running every step of the process, from selection to growing and packaging.

In recent years, the selection of cherry tomatoes in the produce aisle has become more diverse. NatureSweet, one of North America’s largest producers of small tomatoes, is part of the trend. Most known for red grape tomatoes called Cherubs, the company in 2013 launched its first multicolor pack.

“We started testing with browns and oranges, reds, different shapes,” said Lori Castillo, vice president of external communications and public relations at NatureSweet. “That was a really great way for consumers to start to try and trust what a non-red tomato looked like or what it tasted like.”

Constellation, NatureSweet’s first multicolor bundle, includes a medley of orange and red cherry tomatoes along with celestial-branded types, including sweet yellow Comets and darker mini-heirloom Twilights. The curated collection caters to consumers who are looking to add visual interest to their plates — and social media feeds.

“It’s got to deliver also on kind of this cachet of what people are posting [on Instagram],” Castillo said, “so I think that has also helped influence where we lead our innovation.”

Tips for picking the best cherry tomatoes:

• Check for texture. Fresh cherry tomatoes should be plump and firm, not wrinkled. Look for any signs of splitting, mold or rotting. Tip the container over to get a good look at anything that could be hiding underneath.

• To level up your charcuterie boards and crudités platters, consider purchasing several colors or cherry tomatoes that are sold on the vine.

• Do your research. If you’re at a local farmers market, don’t be afraid to ask questions about the varieties that sellers grow. At the grocery store, the best way to know what kinds of tomatoes you like is to test them out.

Storage and preservation tips

How cherry tomatoes are stored — in the fridge or out on the counter — is an age-old debate. Becky Krystal has explored the topic and found that the answer isn’t clear-cut.

“Tomatoes are climacteric, meaning they will continue to ripen after they are picked. Once the tomatoes are at their peak, whether you’ve bought them ripe or you’ve let them ripen for a few days in your kitchen, the clock begins to tick,” she wrote. “If you don’t think you’ll get to them that quickly, as soon as they’re ripe, you can move your tomatoes into the refrigerator to keep them from softening too much.”

As for flavor and texture, refrigeration does cause some loss of flavor over time, but not as much — or as quickly — as many think. A 2016 study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that flavor compounds begin to diminish after about a week in cold storage. That said, short-term refrigeration (one to three days) has minimal impact on tomatoes, and that period may be even longer for smaller tomatoes.

Other preservation methods include freezing, canning, pickling and dehydrating. If you plan to cook the tomatoes later, freezing is a safe choice. It simplifies peeling off any unwanted skins — just run them under warm water and the skins should slip right off.

How to cook with cherry tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes are called snacking tomatoes for a reason. You can pop them straight into your mouth like candy or use them in salads, grain bowls and fresh salsas. Explore their sweet, fruity side by pairing them with stone fruit. For tomatoes that aren’t quite at snacking quality, or for when you have too many to reasonably eat, their natural sweetness and richness can be coaxed out with heat.

“If I have cherry tomatoes that are a little bit lacking in luster, I will roast them in a really hot oven until they blister a little bit and start to burst,” Holmberg said. One of her go-to methods is Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit. Tomatoes are drizzled liberally with olive oil; seasoned with salt, pepper and herbs; then roasted. The result is a jammy, tender and luscious condiment that works well on top of almost any protein — think fish, chicken and steak — as well as bruschetta, hummus or even a Caprese salad.

Another technique Holmberg recommends is making a “pseudo sauce” on the stovetop. With their high skin-to-flesh ratio, cherry tomatoes may not be the best candidates for traditional marinara, but they can form a quick, loose sauce for pasta.

These techniques are just a few of many ways to embrace the complex flavors of cherry tomatoes in your cooking.

•••

Roasted Cherry Tomato Confit

4 to 5 pints (about 3½ pounds) cherry tomatoes, stemmed and halved if large (NOT grape)

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

½ teaspoon fine salt, plus more to taste

A generous sprinkling of fresh thyme and/or rosemary leaves, roughly chopped (optional)

Water, as needed

Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 450°F.

Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Pour the oil over them, sprinkle with the salt and scatter the herbs over, if using. Toss the tomatoes until coated in oil, then rearrange them in a snug, single layer.

Roast the tomatoes for 20 to 30 minutes, or until slightly blistered and browned, with many split to release their juices. Halfway through roasting, check the tomatoes: If a lot of juice accumulates, carefully pour it off and set aside. If the tomatoes start to dry out and burn on the pan, add a few tablespoons of water.

Transfer the baking sheet to a heatproof surface and let rest until cool to the touch, about 30 minutes. Pour any reserved juices over the tomatoes.

Eat right away, or transfer to a clean, lidded jar, along with the juices. Add enough oil to cover the surface of the tomatoes, and refrigerate until needed, up to five days. Serve the tomatoes as a topping for bruschetta, a simple pasta sauce, or an accompaniment to grilled fish, chicken or steak.

*Notes: This is more of a guide than a precise recipe. Any variety of cherry tomato will work; you can use more or less olive oil, salt or herbs. The exact quantity of tomatoes is not critical. Rather, you want them in a snug, single layer. As the tomatoes roast, they'll probably produce a lot of juice. If you see that the tomatoes are starting to swim, carefully pour off as much of the juice as you can without all the tomatoes tumbling off the pan. If the juice is tasty, leave it as is, or if you want a more intense sweet-tangy flavor, simmer the juice until concentrated and syrupy. Once the tomatoes have finished roasting, reunite them with the juice.

8 servings (makes about 1 quart)

Nutrition | Per serving (½ cup): 155 calories, 8g carbohydrates, 0mg cholesterol, 14g fat, 2g fiber, 2g protein, 2g saturated fat, 158mg sodium, 5g sugar

— From cookbook author Martha Holmberg