We love SunGold! The round yellow orbs in top picture are ripe Sungold tomatoes mixed in with Brandy Boy (the wrinkly ones - its not market pretty but it is so so tasty - one for another blog). They are also mixed with a few red hybrid grape tomatoes as well. We grew Sungold for the first time last year as a trial - Reeds choice. They are a winner! We call them tomato candy. They are so sweet, but still have such tomato flavor. We have used them for all kinds of recipes, (see salsa recipe below) but we are lucky if they make it into the house (they get eaten on the way). As you can tell by the bottom two pictures, they are a very indeterminate plant and the tomatoes grow like grapes on the vines. These have had the leaves thinned out so any sun we do get will ripen tomatoes and not produce leaves! The bowl on the top picture is the 5th of its kind filled mostly with Sun Gold for this growing season, and if the Goddess is good to me that is only about one tenth of what are on the vine in the greenhouse. It just has to not get 20 below in the next month and we will be able to harvest all. All of these pictures were taken today so you can see that we are still rockin in the greenhouse with the tomatoes.
Sun Gold tomatoes are a treat to grow - very low maintenance, they expect to be watered plenty but they dont fuss if they dont get that. They arent sensitive to wide temperature changes like some of the other plants, even to as low as 36 degrees and as high as 90. They dont mind a sweaty greenhouse and they dont mildew easily. They seem very non-susceptible to blights and mildews or other tomato diseases and white flies dont bother them at all. The worst quality I have to name about these plants is that they get so tall and lanky and produce at the top that I have to use a ladder often to pick them.
If you leave them on the vine for too long they will split, but I have had a vine of them break off and they ripened in my bowl in the window beautifully! I have 4 Sun Gold plants in my mix. They freeze beautifully and they can without losing all of their color. Pick early and often and enjoy!
Sun Gold Salsa
12 oz. Ripe Sun Gold Tomatoes cut in fourths (or however many you want to use)
1/2 onion diced finely
1 orange and 1 yellow pepper diced finely
1 small bunch cilantro finely chopped
1 tabasco pepper (if you like hot - leave out if not) pureed
1 small bunch fresh parsley finely chopped
pinch of salt
If you dont have a tabasco pepper, use a dash of Franks or Tabasco sauce.
Mix all together in a non metal bowl and enjoy with whatever you like salsa with. We have made this into Salmon dip by adding 1 can salmon and 8oz. creme cheese! Yum!
