Quality and Shelf Life of Grape and Cherry Tomato Varieties for Farm-to-School Programs

Cherry and grape tomatoes can be served at U.S. public schools and colleges with a minimum of preparation.  Further, they can be grown, harvested, and sold locally and are suitable for protected culture systems.  A total of 80 tomato varieties, including yellow, orange, brown, and red types, were grown in 2007 and 2008 at Lane, OK and evaluated for fresh use suitability and storage life.  The best fruit sizes for children and adults had individual weights of 10 to 20 g for grape types, and 15 to 30 g for cherry types.  The soluble solids content ranged from 5 to 8%.  In red tomatoes, lycopene values ranged from 35 to 120 mg/kg, with total lycopene content generally higher in smaller fruited types.  Three varieties were found to be free of decay after 7 days at 20°C, while ‘Gold Nugget’ had symptoms of chilling injury after 7 days storage at 5°C.  About 15 varieties were found to be suitable in size and quality for the farm to school program, and 5 of these could be held for short term storage.