Cherries, peaches, mulberries and persimons are very sweet but what are the sweetest fruits you grow and what is the BRIX level.
What are the varieties for the sugar tooth?
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Pineapple.
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Brix very much depends on your climate (unless you grow in a green house).
Mirabelle plums, hands down.
Any well-grown sub-acid peach will seem plenty sweet even if the brix doesn’t match a Mirabelle.
That’s a matter of finding a reliable producer well-adapted to your local climate. They tend to be white peaches if that matters to you.
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Mango
These are the brix levels I’ve grown. They can be lower but properly grown in my greenhouse with deficit irrigation these can be achieved.
Sweet cherry: 24-32
Nectarine: 24-28
Pluot: 24-28
apricot: 20-26
grape: 24-26
fig: 24-45, 45 with dehydation on the tree
blueberry: 16-26
peach: 14-24
Sweet cherry is the easiest fruit I’ve grown to get really sweet.
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I have some type of Green Gage, probably plain old, that can be mid 30s brix. Mirabelles grafted to the same tree have been close. They are less flavorful, so maybe the sweet stands out.
I’ve had Golden Russet apples that are way up there too. I’ll have to comb records/posts to see how high the brix.
Not from me, but I’m sure the folks who grow jujube have much higher brix, because they are so dry. It’s a bit misleading, because brix measures the juice.
Some grapes get too sweet to eat more than one or two if left on the vine too long.
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I’ll agree that the refractometers are misleading, esp. since there are now 5 different brix measurements - 4 of them requiring electronic gauges.
My brix meter maxes out at 32. Infrequently fruit maxes out the meter. Only plums for me. Pearl and Petite D’Agen have maxed out my meter. I don’t grow cherries, but I do love them. I have had farmer’s market Rainier cherries peg my meter as well. It’s pretty hard to beat a low 30’s brix Rainier cherry.
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For me Bing is a better cherry. More acid kick and firmer. If you can get a 30 brix Bing when it’s still firm and has that acid kick you’re in fruit heaven.
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Yeah, my refractometer has the last line at 32, but the window goes beyond that. I’m extrapolating for the gage plums.
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I don’t have a brix tester, yet by taste I am guessing figs or grapes, yet the figs vary a lot on sweetness, way more than the grapes do.
Probably figs, they are too sweet sometime. But they are easy to grow here, so I will get more just for the fun of it.
If only occasionally tested brix, and with an inaccurate refractometer.
sugar/acid
The thing that interests me though, is that how sweet fruit tastes is not only determined by sugar or brix. But by the ratio of sugar to acid.
Brix is often mentioned in industry/literature, because it can be used as a measurement to estimate ripeness/quality of crop. But it’s not necessarily a good indicator of taste between different fruit species or varieties. A lower brix fruit can taste way sweeter than a higher brix fruit of another variety.
Some strawberry’s can taste quite sweet while being “only” 7-12% brix. Due to lower acid. Making the ratio of sugar to acid taste sweet.
And they taste way sweeter than tart cherries (Prunus cerasus) Even though some tart cherries have 18% brix
I have a raspberry (orange primocane variety that grows 7 feet tal called marosa). That has low acid. The raspberry’s taste very sweet even when unripe.
They are awesome for fresh eating. I however don’t like them for jams. They taste bland if i make them into ice-cream or jam. I like fruit with more acid for that
I am sourcing a blackberry that i suspect is similarly low in acid. Blackberry Asterina - images, description, diseases, cultivation tips and reviews of the variety.
sweetest fruit to my taste has been figs though. Although pears can be incredible sweet tasting to.
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Here is a local variety from my village
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I bet it tastes fantastic!
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Jujubes.
As a species, the brix levels of jujubes and dates consistently beat figs and most other fruit species. But as Oscar notes, perceived sweetness is not the same as brix readings. Perceived sweetness can often be much higher or lower than the brix readings.
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The debate between white/yellow and red/black cherries seems to be a decent debate. My neighbor claims she only like the yellow/white ones. In my opinion at least from the grocery store the red ones can be miles above the white if they are sweet because of the acid kick but the yellow/white ones are more consistent. Some read cherries I think why did I buy this and others I am like this tastes wonderful. Also while this does not apply with growing I only see yellow/white cherries in the stores a week or two a year vs months for red cherries. I think I read it was due to less yellow/white cherries being commercially planted than red cherries.
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It burns your mouth with so much sweetness