When are sungold tomatoes ripe
 

This is my first time growing orange tomatoes (sungold variety). How do I tell when they are ripe? Are they ready as soon as the turn orange or ? Thanks guys!

I don't think so, but then I am a picky tomato eater :). IMHO, one should wait until a perfectly-ripe, deep orange Sungold falls off the vine into your hand. THEN it is ready to eat and the flavour is fabulous :).

Linda

You can tell they are ripe when the birds start eating them. :)

A medium to dark orange is a good indicator. You can pick them at first
blush and let them further ripen inside... (this works to protect against the birds.)

Lee

Deep orange.

[QUOTE=Heyyou;709249]This is my first time growing orange tomatoes (sungold variety). How do I tell when they are ripe? Are they ready as soon as the turn orange or ? Thanks guys![/QUOTE]

Try them at all stages of ripeness (well aside from green)--they change and everyone has a different opinion of peak flavor. When left inside and allowed to get very very orange, I feel they become too sweet and lose that tang I so much enjoy. My favorite stage is probably when the fruit first becomes completely orange.

Sungold produces so many, try my foolproof method. Go out and pick the ripest one and see how it tastes. If not ripe to your taste, wait until a deeper color. If too ripe, try one more yellow. We all have our preferences.

[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;709254]Try them at all stages of ripeness (well aside from green)--they change and everyone has a different opinion of peak flavor. When left inside and allowed to get very very orange, I feel they become too sweet and lose that tang I so much enjoy. My favorite stage is probably when the fruit first becomes completely orange.[/QUOTE]

With the above post I completely agree, try them at different stages of ripeness and see which stage you like the best.

And I'm assuming that we are discussing Sungold F1 hybrid, not one of the OP's that Reinhard in Germany worked with, and some of his are darn good as well.

Carolyn

[QUOTE=fonseca;709252]Deep orange.[/QUOTE]

I agree.
Worth

[QUOTE=Labradors2;709250]I don't think so, but then I am a picky tomato eater :). IMHO, one should wait until a perfectly-ripe, deep orange Sungold falls off the vine into your hand. THEN it is ready to eat and the flavour is fabulous :).

Linda[/QUOTE]

I agree.

Worth

[QUOTE=Lee;709251]You can tell they are ripe when the birds start eating them. :)

A medium to dark orange is a good indicator. You can pick them at first
blush and let them further ripen inside... (this works to protect against the birds.)

Lee[/QUOTE]

I agree but I dont have a bird problem so they get ripe on the vine.
Worth

I caught a brown thrasher hopping away with a ripe Sungold this morning! Nine out ten thieving birds prefer ripe tomatoes. I know because they drop the unripe ones a few feet away...

I agree to try them at all stages. Mine are part of the driveway 10 and 15 gallon pot
toms. Commuter toms. Pull up at dusk/dark and a driveway flood light comes on. We both
pick and eat a few 'snackers' and I pick a dozen for the tomato bowl I let ripen inside in
AC kitchen.
Hot, humid, and thunderstorms all week...best to pick blush toms in this weather.
We like them firm ripe. If I keep up with harvesting with so much rain, I don't find many
spliters unless I miss a few over-ripe.
Vine-ripe, I call over-ripe, I have a freezer zip-lock I keep adding to. By late September
I'll have 4-5 gallon zip bags for Fall pizzas and what-not frittatas, salsa, etc.

I like them best after the last hint of green just disappears. They have good sweetness but still have that nice brightness, without being tart. Dark orange is so sweet i will eat a greenish one after a few to balance things out!


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[QUOTE=jmsieglaff;709254]Try them at all stages of ripeness (well aside from green)--they change and everyone has a different opinion of peak flavor. When left inside and allowed to get very very orange, I feel they become too sweet and lose that tang I so much enjoy. My favorite stage is probably when the fruit first becomes completely orange.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=carolyn137;709266]With the above post I completely agree, try them at different stages of ripeness and see which stage you like the best.

And I'm assuming that we are discussing Sungold F1 hybrid, not one of the OP's that Reinhard in Germany worked with, and some of his are darn good as well.

Carolyn[/QUOTE]

I also agree. Sungold has three different tastes. I call them stages of taste. Stage 1 is where they are pretty firm and have just changed from green. That's the stage my wife likes them in. Stage 2 is what I like most because the flavor seems balanced to me. Stage 3 is when they are fully ripe and are the softest and have a stronger sweet flavor.

Something I have noticed in my 3 years of growing them is that the fully ripe Sungold tomatoes tend to split more after a rain shower.

Definitely agree with the splitting after rain. I don't have a bird problem but I definitely pull more off the vine before a big rain. (I was almost expecting to see Stage 3 being the 'splitting stage'"

Stage 3 is the only tomato our golden retriever will eat. Had the wife laughing the other day - he will catch and eat Stage 3 Sungold but not even catch Texas Wild Cherry or Austin's Black.


Jeff