if you could grow only cherry tomatoes...
 

If the only tomatoes you could grow were cherry tomatoes, what 4-6 varieties would you grow, and how would you use them? These would be the tomatoes you eat in salads and salsa, for tomato sandwiches and roasted tomatoes, and for canning, as well as snacking in the garden. So presumably you'd want a full range of flavors, not just sweet.

so far --- only Supersweet 100s will grace my garden next year for cherry tomatoes. Extremely plentiful and so very very good! Yes, they are super sweet, but they make every dish I have them with so very good. A cherry is not for sandwiches or canning in my opinion. Salads and snacking. They make a sweet salsa, but I would use a sauce tomato in my salsa.
I have some San Mazanos (plum) for sauce, but still waiting for them to ripen.

I mostly use cherries for fresh eating, and for my taste buds I prefer them super sweet. Some of my favorites are Sungold, Isis Candy, and Snow White. Favorite currants are Coyote, Tomatito de Jalapa and Champagne Cherry.

However, after reading your post again I think you are asking which cherris best approximate their larger cousins that are used for slicing and canning, etc. Now that's an interesting question. I would say Carbon Copy tastes like a large black slicer...

SunGold, Champagne Cherry (same as Coyote?) and Black Cherry

Slicing/Canning: Porter - prolific, old fashion taste, and known as a canning tomato.

Sweet: Sungold and Red Ambrosia

Different: Oranje Van Goeijenbier

Fun to grow: Blue cherry sized tomatoes - Brings up garden conversations. Edit: Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue produced really well for us - good taste.

Currents for fresh eating and salads, and a large cherry tomato a neighbor has been raising since the 40's. I don't know it's name but it's the absolute sweetest tomato I've ever had. I grew Sungold this year since it's supposed to be the sweetest tomato out there. In my garden the unknown variety was way sweeter than Sungold.

Can I ask why you are only wanting to do cherries?

Do you have a short days to maturity? They just grow better for you? You like the size and shape?

My friend buys a cherry tomato plant as he usually does every spring and sticks it in a large planter on his deck. They eat of it every year and really does not care what the name is. Matter of fact he tossed the tag...:no: We were there this weekend and he said the cherry tomatoes were the best tomatoes he's ever had for the several years he's been doing this. I got several of them and have them fermenting and will plant them this spring. I hope they are OP (open pollinated). The tomatoes are dark colored ones.

If I had to start my tomato breeding project all over again using only cherry tomatoes, and I was limited to 6 cultivars, I would choose:

[B]Sungold F1[/B]. Because it has a lot of potential buried inside, including genes for larger sized fruits.

[B]Yellow Pear[/B]. Because it grows really well here.

[B]Solanum pimpinellifolium[/B]. Because while it's a poor fit for my climate, it might have a lot of potential as a parent for making crosses.

[B]Large Red Cherry[/B]. Because if I have to grow cherry tomatoes, then I might as well get the most return for my labor.

A determinate cherry tomato. Because the determinate growth habit is very valuable in my climate. But not a dwarf tomato. Something along the lines [B]Hy Brix Tomato F1[/B] or [B]Mountain Belle F1[/B]. I'd choose a hybrid so that I could select among the offspring for traits that please me.

[B]Jagodka[/B]: If you'd let me get away with calling it a cherry tomato... Because it is the current flywheel variety in my garden.

My 6 favourites are

Brandywine cherry
Super snow white
Dr. Caroline pink
Ambrosia gold
Reisentraube
Helsing ★★★★★★★★ blues

I do not like cherries for anything other than fresh eating or the occasional toss with pasta. Too much seed to flesh ratio for me and cooked seeds can make a sauce taste bitter imo.
KarenO

I would be crying if I only could grow cherries...
my garden they only good for give aways and presents- lots of work to collect and not much in return.
Anyway, from recent years grow- Sungold, Helsing ★★★★★★★★ Blue, Blue P20, Kiss the sky, Risentraube, Medovaya Kaplya, HHHS/ see baker creek seeds for Hssiao His .../, Isis Candy.
I will be growing a dozen of varieties for next year plant swap as many people do want to grow only cherries...

For a red, I would grow LA0417, a single plant selection I made a couple of years ago. It is very disease tolerant, very good production, and has that S. Pimpinellifolium sweet but rich tomato flavor I like.

For an orange, I would grow the high brix Orange Pear that I grew this year. It is super sweet with a unique texture that makes it an excellent salad tomato.

Black Cherry wins hands down for robust tomato flavor.

Galina's Yellow Cherry would be my favorite yellow.

Dr. Carolyn Pink hits all the major trait requirements in my garden.

I don't really have a favorite green when ripe, there are half a dozen I've grown that I like, but none of them are standout winners. Green Grape, Green Gage, Green Doctors, Green Doctors Frosted, and Green Zebra cherry come to mind.

I find most cherries to have limited use. Mostly snacking raw. Because for me they are too sweet to add to food.
There are exceptions, like Galina, Black Cherry to some extent, and a few more (unnamed) local varieties.
For modern hybrids it's tough, most are really really sweet, but can have some fantastic production. Tomatoberry is still producing decently with very little green left in the leaves after a massive spidermites attack.
I find cherry tomatoes to be also quite ok for sauce, the taste is stronger and the amount is not as bad as I thought.

Last few years Ive tried a few cherries both modern new F1's and heritage and personally my favourite is sungold, its the earliest for me and also the sweetest.

I do find cherries excellent for putting in pasta and lasagne sauces, gives it a really nice sweet flavour.

I will actually grow less cherries next year as I just find the labour of picking too much and I always seem to let them go over ripe as a result.

Black Cherry for tomato, basil, mozz appetizers and for slicing and eating fresh. Sungold for snacking. Trying out a few others. I like to have a few cherry plants because they always have some ripe fruit when the other plants are still trying to ripen.

Ginny