Amy, go to this site and e-mail the owner Thomas G. and he should be able to point you to the information you require. He also has some good information on Brix and also a site you can go to (Brix Talk).

Here is a link that might be useful: Brix Info

Amy, Brix levels can give you an idea of what the soluble sugars are and it's quite helpful to large commercial farmers who use it as a meaure of when to start harvesting.

But if it's total taste of a variety you're after, then Brix levels I don't think are that helpful b/c there are many other organic compounds as well as other variables that play into the taste of tomatoes, the most important of which is the specific genes that any one variety has.

Or have I misunderstood your reason for asking about Brix levels solely for an indication of soluble sugars?

Carolyn

Here's a few Brix readings I've done on my own over the past couple years for fun and actually written down. (I feel this makes me vulnerable...like telling someone how much you earn. So let me just preface these readings by saying that I never said I was a good gardener.)

Cherokee Purple 6.5
Pink Brandywine 5
Old German 6
Kellogg's Breakfast 6
Kellogg's Breakfast 7.25

As you can see with the Kellogg's Breakfast, levels can vary within the variety, so looking for levels between them doesn't seem too useful.

I agree with Carolyn that there are more variables that affect flavours than just what the refractometer measures.

I like to think of tomato varieties as a packets of unsweetened Kool-Aid. Just like tomatoes, they come in different flavors. Here's where personal taste's come in the first time. I may prefer grape Kool-Aid whereas you might prefer strawberry. That's fine - to each their own.

Now when you add water the Kool-Aid is going to taste lousy no matter what flavour you have because there is no sugar. This is where another aspect of personal taste comes in, and the one that relates to Brix level. Some people like their Kool-Aid with more sugar than others.

That being said, I can't think of a time where I've perceived a fruit with a lower Brix level as tasting better than one of the same type with a higher reading. For example, the Kellogg's Breakfast with a reading of 6 had no comment written, whereas the one that had a 7.25 reading had "f***ing delicious" written next to it.

You can also raise the brix rating by reducing the fruit load on the plant. The net effect is to increase the foliage to fruit ratio. A good tomato should run between 6 and 8 with very sweet varieties up to 12. There are some genetics out there that have significantly higher brix as a result of introgression of a gene from a wild tomato line. I'm trying to get hold of some seed to do comparisons.

DarJones

Thanks everyone! Carolyn, I AM looking for overall taste but was hoping the comparative Brix ratings would point me toward something. You're right, there are many other variables.

I will try Thomas G. as well. I had looked at his site but hadn't tried contacting him.

Thanks again,
Amy

Excellent question, amy_pnw, as were the suggestions for encouraging a higher Brix rating in our plantings.

Sandra

I have had customers at farmers markets come by with there brix meter. Most of the tomatoes they tested where between 6-8. 8 was actually the highest rating(almost dry-farmed Early Girl) No cherries tomaotes where tested.

Someone explained to me that Brix is not just sugar but also dissolved minerals? They where shocked that my Bing cherries where 28 Brix. The next highest they had found at the market was 17. The next week the cherries that the birds left had turned black and about to shrivel, his meter went to 35 and it was maxed out.

brix is a measure of soluble solids.

in addition to sugar it is other carbohydrates/compunds.

brix IS a useful tool to help quantify and measure.

However since it isnt just sugar one can have a tomato that brixes 6% taste sweeter than one that brixes 8%. That isn't the norm in my experience but does happen.

How sweet something appears to your taste buds with tomatoes has to do with the fructose to glucose ratio. Fructose and glucose are the primary reducing sugars found in ripe tomatoes.

Sucrose is another sugar that can sometimes be found but most of it is brokendown into the reducing sugars mentioned above at ripening. There currently are tomato lines being developed with sucrose levels present at ripening. However the methods and "materials" used to do so are currently under patent. The current lines are NOT GMO but are done so via conventional breeding.

I think I stumbled over one those patents while surfing a while back...something like brix 6 higher than typical tomatoes. I suppose that's fine if you're the type to put sugar on tomatoes.