My mom has always loved tomatoes. I always thought she was crazy for just popping a cherry tomato in her mouth, until I realized that some tomatoes are really not that bad. In my mind as a kid all tomatoes were a nasty vegetable.
However, I have recently learned a few things. One, is that a tomato is actually a fruit and two, that tomatoes do not all taste the same and some are much sweeter then others. My mom has had a garden for as long as I can remember and now that I have mine I am learning more and more about different plants and the different varieties. When I first started buying tomato plants I started to look into the different kinds. I love to make salsa with my tomatoes and I like a sweeter salsa. So…What is the sweetest tomato?
The rosada tomato! The rosada tomato is small and oval in shape. It has the perfect mixture of acidity and sugar. It is 10.5 on the brix scale. (The brix scale is used to measure sugar content in things.)
But the rosada is not the only sweet tomato. What are the sweetest tomatoes? Here are a few more.
- Sakura
- Sungold
- Floridity
- Apero
Usually the smaller tomatoes will be the sweetest. So if you are wanting to buy some tomatoes at the grocery store to munch on and you don’t know what they are called you should be safe choosing a cherry or grape sized tomato. Each tomato veriety I mentioned is between an 8-10 on the brix rating scale.
Tomatoes have something called a brix rating. This is how the sweetness is measured. I would attempt to explain the brix rating scale in more detail but to bee honest I am not very good at science and would have a hard time explaining it.
As far as growing…
If you grow your own tomatoes you want them in full sun light. This will ensure that they will be super sweet! As I mentioned I was looking for sweet tomatoes for salsa but what about…
Sweetest Tomatoes for sauce
I know some people love a sweet pasta sauce. I am not a huge fan but my husband is. So I try to find a happy medium. You would think that you would just take the list I offered above to make your pasta sauce, but that is actually not the best plan.When you make pasta sauce you want to use a “thicker” tomato. If you use all the little tomatoes they are going to be very watery and you will have a hard time getting it to thicken up. I would use the following tomatoes in your sauce for the sweetest but yet thickest sauce. If you find that your sauce is not sweet enough you can always add fresh basil to taste.
- Jersey Devil
- Mama Leone
- Opalka
- Polish Linguisa
- San Marzano Redorta
- Roma
- Viva Italia
- Amish Paste
What I have found to work the best for my sauces is to have a good mix of the tomatoes listed above. Most likely you won’t grow all 8 but if you pick a few from the list you will have a great tasting sauce. You can add in a few of the sweetest tomatoes from the first list if you really think you need more sweetness as well.
As I said I grew up with my mom popping fresh tomatoes in her mouth. So my question to her was…
What are the best tomatoes to eat raw?
If you are a person who grows their own food you know that farm fresh foods can’t be beat. Even though I normally am not a tomato lover I will, on occasion, eat them fresh from my garden. I just wanted to put that out there so that if you eat tomatoes from the store and you are slightly dissapointed in the flavor you know why.
A few things go into the answer. If you just want a quick answer then just pick a type of tomato from the original “sweetest tomato list” and you should be good. (I will put the list below so you don’t have to keep referring to the list above)
- Sakura
- Sungold
- Floridity
- Rosada
- Apero
If you want to know what goes into growing the sweetest tomato to eat raw this is for you…
There are 3 things that go into the taste and flavor of your tomato.
- Soil
Your soil plays a big part in the flavor of your tomatoes. (I will expand on this below)
- Heirloom
If you plant heirloom seeds/plants this will also play a part in the taste of your tomatoes.
- Sun
You want to make sure you plant your tomatoes in full sunlight. The longer your tomatoes can soak up the sun the sweeter and juicier they will be.
So again if you can plant your own tomatoes you will get the best tasting tomatoes.
More on tomato flavor
Lets talk a little bit more about the flavor of tomatoes. As I said when you make sauce you want to pick a majority of the larger tomatoes because they yield a better thicker sauce. The bigger tomatoes generally have more acidity and less sugar and sweetness. The smaller tomatoes tend to have more sugar and less acidity. Farmers try their best to get a good mixture in sugar and acidity. If the tomato is lacking in either of they they tend to be pretty bland.
Honestly the flavor is up to personal preference. My advice would be to go to a farmers market. You can then try different types of farm fresh tomatoes and it will let you know what types of tomatoes you enjoy. You can also talk to the farmers there and get their tips on growing. The internet is a great source of wisdom but you can’t beat having a face to face conversation.
Sweet? How about tart?
I love things sweet. But when is comes to my tomato sauce I love a more tart or stronger flavor. I wanted to find some tomatoes that had a stronger flavor. I did some looking around and found some more unique options. You might not be able to find these at your local store but their are places you can find them online. Amazon is my go to for everything. So if you click on any of these pictures it will send you over to amazon.
- Green Zebra
First of all this tomato plant is so cool looking. Secondly, although it is small, the green zebra tastes awesome. This tomato really packs a punch.
- Super Sioux
This tomato is a heavy producer and has a very good strong flavor. It is medium sized and great for eating raw or canning.
- Marion
The Marion tomato is easy to grow has great flavor and is on the smaller to medium size.
I did not want to take up a lot of time talking about tart tomatoes because the bulk of this article is about the sweetest tomatoes but I just thought I would throw it out there. Because depending on what you are making you sometimes need some tarter tomatoes in order to make it taste right.
Heirloom Tomatoes
I always thought that “heirloom” just meant the seeds would grow back again the next year. But as I have been learning, researching and experimenting I am finding out that heirloom means much more then that. Below are 4 great reasons to pick heirloom over hybrid.
- Taste
When you buy tomatoes they will be hybrid. The stores have to do this to keep the tomatoes looking good. The tomatoes have to travel to get to your grocery store and if they have thinner skins they would puncture and then would not be “sell-able”. A tomato should be soft and have a thin skin.
When we plant our own tomatoes we can choose heirloom seeds this will give us the best tasting tomato. Now if you happen to get hybrid it will taste better then the store but not as good as heirloom. Does that make sense?
2. Health
As I mentioned commercial tomatoes are bred for rougher travel. On top of that farmers want to get as high as a yield as possible. So hybrid seeds are not only made to grow tougher tomatoes but also to grow much bigger yields. The problem with this is that it takes away from the nutrition of the tomato.
If you choose a hybrid seed you might see a little more of a yield but not a whole lot. Only because the amount you are getting is so much smaller. For us small guys who are just growing for ourselves it makes so much more sense to grow heirloom. We are just taking the tomato from our garden and into our house. We don’t need to ship it miles and miles and then have it handled by multiple people.
3. Seed re purpose
As a homesteader I try my best to find ways to not only recycle but become more and more self-sufficient each year. When you use heirloom seeds you can reuse the seeds year after year. I heard a story about a lady who was using seed passed down from her grandma. How crazy is that?
I think that story was a little more unusual because in general seeds can last between 10-16 years. But still I thought it was pretty neat.
4. Growing times
Did you know that hybrid plants are also made so that the tomatoes will all get ripe and be ready to pick at the same time? Again, this is done so that it is easier for the farmers to sell to the stores.
But as a small homesteader I want fresh food all summer. If you decide to plant heirloom you will get a much longer and spread out yield time.
Growing the sweetest tomatoes
I have been telling you how growing your own tomatoes is by far the best but if you have never grown your own it can be intimidating to get started. The coolest part about growing your own food is that you can do it whether you have no property and live in the city or have 200 acres out in the country. If you follow these tips you will be on your way to super delicious tomatoes.
Now you have to to take into consideration where you live. Tomatoes love the sun and the heat. So they will do best in the more southern states. But they can do just fine in northern states as well. I live in Michigan and plant tomatoes every year with very few problems.
- Temperature
The perfect temperature for tomatoes would be in the eighties during the day and in the fifties at night. As I said that does not mean you can’t grow tomatoes if your weather does not stick around there but you will just have a little harder time. There are different types of tomatoes that do better in different areas.
- Soil
You want to make sure that your soil has plenty of potassium and sulfur. You can either buy fertilizer or use manure. Check your local farms for manure. I have a neighbor who brings me manure for my garden each year. You do want to make sure that it is not fresh. Because if you put fresh manure on your garden it can fry your plants. It is best if it sits for about a year before you use it.
- Sun
I know I keep saying the same thing. But tomatoes love sun. They need at least 8 hours of pretty intense sun a day. Again, you will still get tomatoes if you don’t have that much sun but the more sun you get the sweeter your tomatoes will be.
- Water
When it comes to watering it is best to water your tomatoes in the morning before they get to hot. When the plants are early in their growing season they might need to be watered morning and night. It is best to water them at night after it starts to cool down. Tomatoes need about 1-2 inches of water a week.
If you can try your best to water everyday. Irregular watering can harm your tomato plants.
Planting in pots
Most things do best planted in the ground, tomatoes included. But If you don’t have the room to plant a garden and want to grow tomatoes in a pot you should go for it. If you can remember to keep it watered you should have no issues.
You will grow your tomatoes in the pots the same way you do in the garden. Make sure you have good soil, put it in the hottest spot you have and water each morning. Just be careful not to over water it. If you moisten the soil each morning and evening you will be good.
Conclusion
After my research and experimenting I have learned that the sweetest tomato is the rosada, with sakura, sungold, floridity and apero trailing closely behind. I also learned that in order to reach their fullest sweetness potential they need at least 8 hours of sunlight a day. The ideal weather for growing tomatoes is eighty degrees during the days and in the fifties during the night.