Jardin Rabelais Cherry Tomatoes
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Cherry vine tomatoes from Le Jardin de Rabelais, a specialist grower at Avoine in the Loire Valley. Thin-skinned, juicy, and grown under glass for flavour rather than shelf life or transport resilience.
The sugar-to-acid ratio is high but balanced — sweet without being flat, with enough acidity to keep the flavour interesting. Eaten raw, the skin bursts cleanly and the juice is concentrated. The aroma when you open the punnet is distinctly tomato-plant — green, peppery, and warm. That aroma comes from volatile compounds held in the vine and calyx, and indicates fruit cut from the plant at full ripeness rather than ripened after picking.
These work well eaten straight from the punnet at room temperature, which is how they are best. They are also good halved in a simple salad with olive oil, flaky salt, and torn basil — the thin skin means they absorb a dressing quickly. If you want to cook them, a fast roast at high heat (220°C, 10–12 minutes) concentrates the sugars and collapses the skins without turning them to paste. They pair naturally with burrata, good olive oil, and bread, or tossed through pasta with garlic and chilli at the last moment.
Store at room temperature, not in the fridge — cold storage breaks down the volatile compounds that give these their aroma, and it does not recover.
Producer: Le Jardin de Rabelais — a specialist tomato grower at Avoine, Loire Valley, France, growing since 1989.
