Author Topic: Sweet tomato (Read 6608 times)

John85 · « **on:** August 01, 2011, 08:14:01 »

What is the sweetest tomato?
I grow gardener's delight and mexican honey but I 'd like to grow a very sweet big one.Thank you for your suggestions.

saddad · « **Reply #1 on:** August 01, 2011, 08:18:51 »

Welcome to A4A John... I think the sweetest is Sungold... but it's a cherry... after that it gets a bit fuzzy... I like the large Black varieties... :-\

goodlife · « **Reply #2 on:** August 01, 2011, 08:33:20 »

Hmm..difficult one that..as growing conditions have big influence for the flavour too...and at what stage the fruit is picked.
I always associate the really sugary sweet tomatoes with cherry-types..like Saddad suggested sungold..
I grow variety Sun Belle that is plum-shaped yellow cherry tomato..it is too sweet for me to eat as ripe berry and I find its best when it still has hint of green on it...and its still deliciously sweet even then!
But large ones usually have to be really properly ripe to develop the sugars and they don't tend to get even near to the sweetness of cherry types.
Sorry..out of all the hundreds of varieties that I've grown..with large ones there is not one that really stands out for their extra sweetness. Bloody butcher that I grew last year were nicely sweet for salad type..but those were almost over ripe by that stage.

Kleftiwallah · « **Reply #3 on:** August 01, 2011, 12:26:39 »

My favourite is a beefsteak tom. Brandywine, it's a frying tomato. Excelent flavour. I'm trying 'Garden Pearl' this year. Cheers, Tony.

Stevens706 · « **Reply #4 on:** August 01, 2011, 13:01:49 »

I agree with Sungold, I also love Tigerella but it is more tangy than sweet.

manicscousers · « **Reply #5 on:** August 01, 2011, 14:34:43 »

A friend of ours brought back some seeds of oxheart a couple of years ago, huge things look like a handbag, lovely, sweet taste. I save the seeds so, if you would like some, I can send them in autumn

Old bird · « **Reply #6 on:** August 01, 2011, 14:59:03 »

Do you have "Proper gardeners delight"?

I would love some seed if you could spare some, the last couple of years I have used seed which calls itself GD and last year they were tasty and small - BUT certainly not GD and I am so annoyed as I bought some Thompson & Morgan at horrendous expense as I thought that I would be safe with them. But they have no flavour and are certainly worse than I had last year. I am soooo annoyed as GD are the only tomato I really want along with some coloured ones for colour and the odd large beefsteak variety.
I am going to complain to T & M as they are misleading many people who have been told that GD are the nicest tasting variety (some may agreee/disagree) and when they try this mushy tomato with the supermarket taste they will be put off.

Sorry to be cheeky but I am so annoyed - and I have only just started picking tomatoes and they are rubbish!

Old Bird

antipodes · « **Reply #7 on:** August 01, 2011, 15:45:18 »

How odd, Old bird - I am growing Gardener's Delight, got them from probably Alan Romans, and they are a kind of cocktail tomato, they grow on long trusses, they are very sweet and juicy and not at all "floury" (and there are zillions of fruit!). Do yours not resemble that?

John85 · « **Reply #8 on:** August 02, 2011, 08:51:55 »

Thank you all.
Somebody adviced me Ponderosa pink.How do you rate that one?Worth growing?
The one I grow as Oxheart is very different:it is heartshaped without ridges,very meaty,late,big fruit but not very sweet.
manicscousers,
yours looks very much like Borsalina but it is the taste that is important isn't it!
Oldbird
Sorry but I cann't remember where I bought GD.Just in a garden center some years ago.

manicscousers · « **Reply #9 on:** August 02, 2011, 08:57:13 »

I wonder if the labels got mixed, I didn't plant them this year, I had 'help' from my grandkids ;D
maybe the heart-shaped one is the oxheart, I'll ave to look through the seed packets to find out which one is the 'handbag' shape :)

plainleaf · « **Reply #10 on:** August 02, 2011, 15:30:46 »

gardeners delight is not a good choice at all.
sungold f1 is a very sweet variety but rather small.
most large varieties are not very sweet but have more of of the sharper taste notes.

Alex133 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 03, 2011, 07:23:58 »

Sungold is the sweetest I've ever tasted and very early and prolific - small but you can always eat lots at once.

antipodes · « **Reply #12 on:** August 03, 2011, 09:00:31 »

Quote from: plainleaf on August 02, 2011, 15:30:46

gardeners delight is not a good choice at all.

Well I must beg to differ. I have grown them now last year and this year and I find them to be quite delicious. I admit that I have never been able to get Sungold to try. The only thing I dislike with the GD is that they give a lot of fruit all at once and it's hard to eat it all. They ripen very quickly once they get started. But they are productive (mine are heaving with trusses at the mo) and the fruit tastes great. Why is that not a good choice?

bappelbe · « **Reply #13 on:** August 03, 2011, 10:24:57 »

Hi
As to the difference in opinion about Gardeners Delight.
I am convinced that different seed companies sell very different types of tomato as "gardeners delight", some being much better than others (of course there is personal taste as well)

I grew Suttons GD one year loved them, next year got seed from a different company and did not like them, so went back to Suttons.

I presume this happens with other varieties as well.

Bill

antipodes · « **Reply #14 on:** August 03, 2011, 10:32:17 »

@bappelbe
That is probably true. There are also quite a few "mis-translations" I feel where companies don't keep the original name but translate it to English and then mix ups occur. For example I find it hard to believe that the varieties called Gartenperle and Garden Pearl are not one and the same tomato.
I am not sure if I can keep my GD seeds? I am guessing they are hybrid? I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try.

goodlife · « **Reply #15 on:** August 03, 2011, 10:58:32 »

Antipodes..GD is not hybrid.. ;) ;D

Deb P · « **Reply #16 on:** August 03, 2011, 11:11:13 »

I think you have hit the nail on the head with Gardener's Delight, there are just so many different strains being marketed. I tried an Irish version last year from Real Seeds I think, that was supposed to be a supersweet strain, but I found it had poor vigour and the fruit were nothing special. I have grown many different strains over the years, some had cherry sized fruits, other were more like a medium salad size, so I guess it is pretty difficult to determine what the original would or should be like by now. I guess if you find one you like you stick to it, but there are an awful lot of versions out there.....

John85 · « **Reply #17 on:** August 04, 2011, 11:38:36 »

manicscousers
I don't think you have mixed your labels.This may be the explanation:in a old French seedslist they wrote that Borsalina is sold wrongly as "coeur de boeuf"(=oxheart) in some areas of France.I guess your friend just told you what he had heard.
Antipodes
As I have a sweet form of GD, i collect my own seed every year.No problem at all; just avoid to collect seeds from a plant that is next to another cultivar.

Squash64 · « **Reply #18 on:** August 04, 2011, 11:47:28 »

Sungold for me too. The fruit may be small, and prone to splitting but they taste so delicious that I don't care.

plainleaf · « **Reply #19 on:** August 04, 2011, 13:44:24 »

antipodes you not really going to get decent tomatoes in France any way.

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Author Topic: Sweet tomato (Read 6608 times)