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. :icon_geek:
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.
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 :toothy10:
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.
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..
I haven't read that article...was it done with commercial varieties only?
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 :sunny:.
Tricia
I used to adore Sungold but it seems to have lost its flavour.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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..
Sweet 100 - can you still get this variety? - I'm not sure.. did "Sweet Million" supersede Sweet 100 - I'm confused?
Do check out the Horizon Program about taste. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01rn6yq/Horizon_20132014_The_Truth_about_Taste/)
Very interesting bit about the taste of tomatoes.
Quote from: juno54 on March 31, 2013, 00:15:28
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.
Quote from: RobinOfTheHood on March 07, 2013, 12:07:23
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.
Quote from: Digeroo on March 05, 2013, 12:46:21
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.
Quote from: Digeroo on March 05, 2013, 12:46:21
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.
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.
Quote from: Vinlander on March 05, 2013, 16:09:57
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
Quick question for you Vinlander... I have some piccolo in the fridge, love them, like sweets! If I take some seeds out, do I need to dry them out, if so for how long? I'd like to try this, altho I only have the space to grow a couple of plants. Thanks
Grown and tried several including Sungold, Sweet 100 ect, But personally I liked best, the old heritage variety
" Broad Ripple Yellow Currant " which is still available from Heritage seed merchants. Very sweet taste and one of those that when you just eat one or two, it turns into several at least.
Quote from: jesssands on April 01, 2013, 19:00:56
Quote from: Vinlander on March 05, 2013, 16:09:57
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
Quick question for you Vinlander... I have some piccolo in the fridge, love them, like sweets! If I take some seeds out, do I need to dry them out, if so for how long? I'd like to try this, altho I only have the space to grow a couple of plants. Thanks
If you wipe all the jelly off the seeds then some of them will produce roots in a week.
Actually this is the first year I've used fresh jellied Piccolo in this way (sown just last Thur) but it's worked for everything else.
NB. I can't guarantee they will
all sprout quickly - and that's a pain if you plant in pots - so it's best to chit them - I always chit/sprout all my early half-hardys in those lidded brick-shaped clear polypropylene microwaveable food containers you can buy at the pound shop - some takeaways and readymeals use them too (the City Kitchen ones are particularly good pots - the Katsu Chicken is the best! - Ken Hom's ones are good too).
I cut up a poor-quality one to make a flat 10mm high platform, drape some kitchen roll over it so it dips in 3mm of water in the bottom of the good one, shut it and microwave the whole thing to sterilise it before putting the seeds in. It means you can put the whole thing in a propagator that doesn't have to be sterile.
Works a treat, though I like to let the seed leaves appear before transplanting - and that means you have to leave maybe 20mm space around each seed so the roots don't meet in the paper - and so you can tear some paper out with the roots to avoid damaging them.
I keep meaning to move chitted seeds into a separate sprouting container but I'm never yet been vigilant enough...
Cheers.
PS. don't forget labelling - no seedling should ever be allowed mix with others if it isn't individually labelled.
My favourite in both taste and permance is Mexico Midget. I got some seeds from a kind person on A4A several years ago and have grown it every year since. The balance of sweet & tangy is perfect and one plant yield so many little fruits. I and OH always end up eating loads while we are at the plot.
Other varieties I keep going back are Sunbelle and Black Cherry but they don't come even close to Mexico Midget!
Did those year before last Jessands,I took the seeds from the Piccolo and placed them in a jam jar of warm water and over a week just changed the water every day and the jelly falls away,after 7 days just placed the seeds on a wet piece of kitchen paper with a wet piece above and they ALL sprouted
brilliantly,although I did lose some as I potted them on the fruits were great.
I Emailed a tomato grower who advised that although she could not provide me with Piccolo seeds from scratch the seeds from the fruits I purchased
in Tesco would work fine for 1 season but not after..!!!!!!!!!!!
I will buy and do them again this season as they were bloomin tasty.
Gazza
Quote from: juno54 on March 31, 2013, 00:15:28
Sweet 100 - can you still get this variety? - I'm not sure.. did "Sweet Million" supersede Sweet 100 - I'm confused?
I haven't look about sweet 100 seeds for couple of years..but Sutton's seeds used to sell them.
edit to add: found this http://www.tomatodirt.com/sweet-100-tomato.html
Thanks Gazza and Vinlander for the replies. I had read about fermenting them in a jar too. But whilst I could not wait, I had taken some seed and dried them on kit paper then put them on a saucer, they look clean enough but if that fails I have kept back one little lonely piccalo tom in the fridge to go again!! Will give them a try and see how it goes x
I still rate sweet million-been saving the seeds for 20 odd years now. It may be classed as a hybrid but it`s not-the seeds come true.
Quote from: jesssands on April 09, 2013, 22:51:04
Thanks Gazza and Vinlander for the replies. I had read about fermenting them in a jar too. But whilst I could not wait, I had taken some seed and dried them on kit paper then put them on a saucer, they look clean enough but if that fails I have kept back one little lonely piccalo tom in the fridge to go again!! Will give them a try and see how it goes x
I checked my my fresh (and jelly-less) Piccolo seeds on Thur - after 7days @ ~ 80F/27C - and 11/15 were ready to transplant (waving their leaves 20mm above the damp kitchen paper) and the other 4 were showing roots yesterday.
I think this proves that it is the jelly that is the issue - so drying is unnecessary if you want a quick result.
If you are saving scores of seeds for future years then it ends up much less fiddly to use fermentation - and it does a better job of removing stuff that can harbour problems while they are waiting to be used.
But if you want 10-20 seeds right now then you can't beat just getting the jelly off.
Cheers
Quote from: cleo on April 11, 2013, 15:38:06
I still rate sweet million-been saving the seeds for 20 odd years now. It may be classed as a hybrid but it`s not-the seeds come true.
Yes I too think this is really good variety, reliable, sweet v productive, early and does really well even with multiple stems and trusses. Didn't realize you could save seeds though.
I'm still trying to find one with thin skins - although I believe I read somewhere that thick skins are mainly due to lack of sun and warmth - like last year!
Tricia
my piccalos have chitted after just 2 days in the airing cupboard in the take away container.
Thats brills!
Now, I want to try my fav from Sainsbury too.. vittoria I think its called x
Quote from: tricia on April 13, 2013, 16:46:32
I'm still trying to find one with thin skins - although I believe I read somewhere that thick skins are mainly due to lack of sun and warmth - like last year!
Tricia
To a lesser extent skins are affected by environmental conditions. But mostly, it is breeding - thick skinned tomatoes are preferred by supermarkets, because they don't bruise or split and rot during transport and handling. Most old heritage/heirloom varieties are thin skinned and would never survive the trip to the shops, most shop tomatoes are thicker skinned or very elaborately packaged.
Quote from: jesssands on April 16, 2013, 01:12:40
my piccalos have chitted after just 2 days in the airing cupboard in the take away container.
Thats brills!
Now, I want to try my fav from Sainsbury too.. vittoria I think its called x
That was fast. Hope they will do well for you.