Topic: Best tasting Cherry tomato

[realfood]

Gardening Which has just published their results for the best tasting cherry tomato, based on the taste tests of 1000 people.
The best tasting red was Suncherry Premium F1 and the best tasting orange was Orange Paruche F1. As good tasting, but with a lower yield was Sungold F1. Gardeners Delight had poorer taste but much larger yield.
I grew Suncherry Premium and Sungold for several years to compare them and agree that they have a very similar taste, but Suncherry has a slightly higher yield and less likely to split than Sungold.

[winecap]

Well, not one to conform, I wasn't very impressed with sungold, which I grew for the first time last year. I still think gardeners delight is my preferred cherry tomato, but only when grown without feed in proper soil.

[manicscousers]

We liked galina yellow and lemon tree, and we had a lovely red cherry. Our friend brought it back from france, thinking it was a beefsteak. It had about 20 tomatoes on each stem and tasted delicious. I've saved seeds and call it daves cherry 

[davyw1]

Sun Cherry premium from the Japanese breeders have another new one on the market in Plants of Distinction called Golden Cherry rated as the very tops in tomatoes, outyeilds, outflavours and out classes Sungold
12 seeds £3.25 i just hope i have not waisted my money.

[chriscross1966]

I can't imagine there's a tomato more likely to split than SUngold :D... I still like it and for one that tastes less sweet but more tomatoey, Black Cerry... it's also a bit bigger than a Sungold... doesn't have a spectacular yield though..

[goodlife]

I haven't read that article...was it done with commercial varieties only?

[tricia]

I'm trying Sungella this year. I already have 3 Sungold plants with flowers on one of them in my tiny GH (cold) which have overwintered with just keeping them from drying out too much. I grew the plants from side cuttings from Sungold late last year. In December I pinched out flowers on one of the plants, but I'm leaving the newly formed flowers to see what happens.  Although the icy wind has been ferocious here in the south-west we haven't (in my corner) had much in the way of frost, just a couple of time the bird bath had a thin ice sheet on it. The lowest night temperature registered was 1C, so I was amazed that the plants didn't just fall over and die! Fingers crossed  .

Tricia

[Digeroo]

I used to adore Sungold but it seems to have lost its flavour.

[Vinlander]

If you like Piccolo and Piccolino (try them from the supermarket - probably both the same) then I can tell you they come 90% true to flavour from seed, and even the bad ones are on a par with Gardener's Delight.

The good thing about taking advantage of commercial varieties is that they are easy and yield well, the bad thing is they usually taste like water - except this one (and Green Tiger).

And save yourself money (£2.49 for 50 or fewer seeds? - they're having a larf!).

Cheers.

PS. the best thing about Gardener's Delight and Sungold is that you can buy a plant for £1 and get 5-10 cuttings off it that will ripen fruit only a week later than the parent plant.

[realfood]

Yes, the article only included the easily sourced  cherry varieties that are known for their taste. They also included the following varieties in their trial which gave below average taste results:- Black Cherry, Chocolate cherry, Conchita(grafted), dolce Vita, Favorita, Golden pearl, Lupitas, Tropical.
I have grown Black Cherry in the past and thought that it was over-rated for taste.
But everyone's taste buds are different.

[Jeannine]

I like a couple of the open pollinated grow outs of Sungold, the taste is very similar, they are a wee bit bit bigger and they don't split and I can save seeds if I want to..

XX Jeannine

[kt.]

Berry is a great tasting cherry tomato and has excellent resistance to splitting too.  High yields, great flavour, good disease resistance - what more could you want from a cherry tomato.

[GREGME]

I find sungold lovely but the fruit a bit too small. I've not grown suncherry premium yet but my favourite red cherry f1 continues to be sweet million.

[RobinOfTheHood]

Well on the strength of this thread I've just bought some Sun Cherry Premium F1 and Black Cherry seeds as well as some more Sungold, which I grow every year. These will go in with some Gardener's Delight (supersweet Irish version!) from RealSeeds, and I'll have a proper comparison by season's end.

Can't wait..

[juno54]

Sweet 100 - can you still get this variety? - I'm not sure.. did "Sweet Million" supersede Sweet 100 - I'm confused?

[Chrispy]

Do check out the Horizon Program about taste.
Very interesting bit about the taste of tomatoes.

[Jayb]

Sweet 100 - can you still get this variety? - I'm not sure.. did "Sweet Million" supersede Sweet 100 - I'm confused?

I'm not sure Sweet 100 seeds are available in the UK, although you may be able to source it through a US seed company. I think Sweet 100 was followed by Super Sweet 100, as it was less prone to cracking, seeds are still available for these. 

Well on the strength of this thread I've just bought some Sun Cherry Premium F1 and Black Cherry seeds as well as some more Sungold, which I grow every year. These will go in with some Gardener's Delight (supersweet Irish version!) from RealSeeds, and I'll have a proper comparison by season's end.

Can't wait..

Suncherry Premium F1 are delish, one of my favourites. I think Sungold F1 is at the top although Sunsugar F1 is very close. For another year you might like to try Floridity F1 or Rosada F1, both super tomatoes, sweet lovely flavour and great production.

[galina]

I used to adore Sungold but it seems to have lost its flavour.

Bought seeds last year for the first time as I am not a hybrid person and Sungold hasn't performed for me either.  flavour ok, yield very low, plants a bit weedy.

Better flavoured are Galina's cherry, Black Cherry, Auntie Madge's from HSL, Gardener's delight (although there is a variety of GDels out these days, they are not all absolutely the same), Giant German Cherry and Stupendous, both no longer available.  SunBelle is a little plum tomato also with good rich flavour.

So much flavour depends on the soil, but overwatering never helps flavour.  And I am sure that different people have different flavour responses, just as well there is a wide choice out there.

I love the types that are both sweet and have an acid hit too, and the earthy flavours of brown tomatoes.  The best bit about the brown/black ones (although Black cherry has a purple/brown outer) is that you can emergency harvest them green at the first sign of blight, ripen on the windowsill and they will still taste good.  Red ones lose their flavour a bit.

[Chrispy]

I used to adore Sungold but it seems to have lost its flavour.

Same here, last years were not very nice, but the seeds were from the same packet, so it is clearly the growing conditions that affected them.

[grannyjanny]

OH has 'suggested' I give up on tomatoes this year as the results haven't been up to much. We can buy a 6kg box from a local grower for £4, the ones supermarkets won't take. I 'suggested' what he could do with idea. I enjoy the challenge of trying again.