When I give tomato plants to kids, I always give them cherry tomatoes.  They grow and grow, produce a ton of fruit and don’t have many problems. 

And of all the cherry tomatoes I have grown–Sweet Chelsea is the best.  The fruit is big, the plants,   healthy, and trouble-free.  The leaves are even greener than my other tomato plants.   And Sweet Chelsea plants grow and grow–giving me a bowl full  of big- flavor tomatoes every 2 or three days. 

That’s a lot of tomatoes.  But I can use them all.  I love to slow roast these lovely tomatoes and enjoy them all year round. 

Cherry tomatoes are good candidates for roasting.  They have thin skins and not much water inside.  Here’s how I cook my Sweet Chelsea tomatoes and turn them into my favorite Summer Tomato Jam. 

Sweet Chelseas before roasting

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees
  • Wash tomatoes and drain them dry on a kitchen towel
  • Cut each tomato in half.  Toss with olive oil, salt, pepper, 1 tsp sugar
  • Cover a cookie sheet with foil, then spray with cooking spray
  • Place tomato halves cut side up and roast until cooked but not crispy=about 1 hour and 40 minutes. 
  • Cool and cover with olive oil (and spices if you like.  Oregano is nice.) then refrigerate or freeze for later. 

    After roasting an hour and 40 min. Next step--toss in oil and refrigerate or freeze.

I use these in pasta, on pizza or as topping for crackers and toast.  The flavor is great.  People rave. 

For Sweet Chelsea seed, go to Superseed.com.  Plant them indoors mid–March.  The rest is easy.   Or pick up some extra plants at my tomato party next year.  There are always extra Sweet Chelsea  plants to share.

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