🌱 Origin & Story
42 Days is believed to have originated in Mexico, where short-season growing and intense heat likely selected for speed over size. The variety has been passed among seed savers for decades and remains available through specialty sellers like MI Gardener and Thresh Seed.
The name is literal. Under good conditions, you can go from transplant to red, ripe fruit in about six weeks. No other tomato we've grown comes close. In a climate like Tulsa's, that speed means you're eating homegrown tomatoes while your neighbors' Big Beefs are still setting their first flowers.
The fruits are small — roughly an ounce each — bright red, round, and prolific. What it lacks in size it makes up for in sheer volume and the satisfaction of picking ripe tomatoes before Memorial Day.
🍴 Flavor & Fruit
Small round cherry-type fruits, approximately 1 oz, bright red and thin-skinned. They come in clusters, and they come fast. The flavor is straightforward tomato — sweet, a little tart, nothing complicated. It's not trying to win a taste test against Cherokee Purple. It's trying to be the first ripe tomato on your counter, and at that, nothing beats it.
Great for snacking, salads, kids' lunchboxes, and the pure psychological victory of harvesting tomatoes in late May.
🍽️ In the Kitchen
Fresh: Straight off the vine, still warm. That's the move. Toss them in salads, pile them on toast, or just eat them standing in the garden.
Roasted: Halve a few cups' worth, toss with olive oil and salt, roast at 400°F until they blister. Concentrate that flavor.
For Preserving: You'll need volume, but 42 Days gives you volume. Dehydrate them for intense little tomato chips, or blister and freeze for winter pasta sauces.
