Yellow Pear Tomato

Traditionally, it was eaten fresh and to make fresh tomato preserves until recently, when chefs and restauranteurs have made it a favorite in salads, pasta, and salsa. Yellow Pear Tomatoes have become increasingly popular at farmers’ markets.

The plants are large, sprawling, and hardy. They require staking or cages, especially if you don’t prune suckers. Yellows produce prolific amounts of fruit until frost, even in cooler zones. As with most cherry varieties, blossom end rot is not a problem. But plants tend to be particularly susceptible to early blight.

What’s the history of the Yellow Pear Tomato?

Photo: Hillside Community Garden

The variety spread to North American fairly quickly.
1825: The Hudson Bay Company at Fort Vancouver, though the headquarters of the Northwest fur trade, also operated a farm with vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers and sold Yellow Pear Tomatoes.
1847: Yellow Pear was one of three tomato varieties recorded to be grown in the U.S.
1863: 100 varieties of tomato seeds were sold in the western territories (Utah and Colorado) by seedsman Joseph Ellis, including the Yellow Pear.
1934: Oscar Will & Co. (Bismarck, ND) introduced the Fargo Yellow Pear.
1983: Beam’s Yellow Pear introduced to the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), a leader in heirloom seed preservation.
1998: 25 Yellow Pear varieties offered by SSE.

Yellow Pear Varieties

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