[qwerty565]

Hi,
 Last year I heard Chris Evans raving about a new type of tomato called "Super Sweetini", I was too late to get it as the growing season was well under way and it would have been a waste of time. I did a bit of research and found out that M&S were selling it as the fifth taste after sweet and bitter etc. due to a naturally occurring MSG ingredient called "Umami", basically it's what makes food taste nice and the article said that they got the sweetness and sharpness of flavour just right for optimum taste experience. Thing is I went to my local store and it wasn't on sale so I went to a larger store in Newcastle and couldn't find it there either, "Santini" was the closest they had. Is this the one I'm after but under a different name? I'd rather get them from the shop and just propagate the seeds to save money but don't want to get the wrong variety. I've tried "Piccolini" last year which is the other sweet variety.

 Any help please?

[compostqueen]

It seems it's peculiar to M & S. You may not be able to propagate it from saved seed as it's probably an F1. I've not seen it in the seed catalogues yet

There are plenty other sweet tomatoes to be home grown though 

[mumofstig]

I Googled and the taste is due to the secret blend of nutrients the tom was fed, it seems!

http://slowfoodnottingham.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/you-say-tomato-i-say-sweetini/

[bigben]

If you cannot find the toms your after then you might want to try Sungold. I grew them for the first time last year and found them to be excellent and the sweetest toms I have ever tried.

[shokkyy]

I hated Sungold Honestly, I think taste is a very individual thing. What one person thinks delicious somebody else will hate, and vice versa. Most of the cherry tomatoes are lovely and sweet. My personal favourite is Gartenperle in baskets. But I also really like Red Alert and Gardeners Delight, which are both kind of inbetween size, easy to grow and very sweet. And even where the variety is nice and sweet, the growing conditions have a big effect on the taste too.

[JayG]

I hated Sungold Honestly, I think taste is a very individual thing. What one person thinks delicious somebody else will hate, and vice versa. Most of the cherry tomatoes are lovely and sweet. My personal favourite is Gartenperle in baskets. But I also really like Red Alert and Gardeners Delight, which are both kind of inbetween size, easy to grow and very sweet. And even where the variety is nice and sweet, the growing conditions have a big effect on the taste too.

So we do have at least one Gartenperle fan (not a single mention in the 2011 Tomato survey!)    

Never grown or eaten Sungold, but after topping the overall survey results two years running I'll just have to give them a go this year.

Taste is a very personal choice, and although I guess no-one likes dry, woolly-textured tomatoes, for me it's about the right combination of sweetness, nicely balanced with acidity, and also flavour (although I couldn't begin to describe what a tomato should and does actually taste like!)  

[arugula]

So we do have at least one Gartenperle fan (not a single mention in the 2011 Tomato taste survey!)   

Two. As you know, our 2011 tomato crop was a wipeout due to the weather, so I didn't participate in the survey.

[shokkyy]

In the appalling conditions last year, all my outdoor planted tomatoes in a bed were a complete wipeout. However, the 3 little Gartenperle plants in hanging baskets carried on like little troopers   We were picking them non-stop from the first week in July till mid October. We were giving them away and still stashed away 4 kilos in the freezer.

[JayG]

Suspect Argyllie has just started feeling a whole lot worse! 

[arugula]

No. We got quite a few pea-sized fruits in late September/October but mainly, across all varieties grown last year, thousands and thousands of flowers.  Hope we're back to normal this year.

[bigben]

Last year was my first year with access to a greenhouse. My sungold were very early to crop and even those planted outdoor all came good before the end of the season. So as well as tasting good they seem to be reliable as well.

I will grow them again this year but others as well because the one problem I did have was that my sungold were all ripe and harvested while others on the site still had lots of toms still at different stages of ripening.

[mumofstig]

Just as a different opinion............I find Sungold much much too sweet...I like a tomato with a bit of acidity to balance the sweetness.

You have to try varieties for yourself - so you can decide on the best tasting tomato..
for you 

[shokkyy]

The other thing I didn't like about Sungold was they seemed very keen to split, much less forgiving than the other varieties of any inconsistency in moisture available.