Hi Georgina and a delicious tomatoey welcome to the Garden Web forum!

Have you ever heard of a variety of tomato called Kumato (TM)? Sweet Rosso (TM) is similar, if this is the variety you ask about. It is a trademarked name rather than just a variety name that has been bred by big agricultural companies on an exclusive basis for big customers and licensed by contract to privileged growers with the restriction that they will NEVER dare give the seed to anyone under the penalty of dismemberment by being tied to four very tall Quindio Wax Palm Trees in the Colombian Andes. We have a lot of those problems here in the US, but I'm not sure where you are.

The particular variety name for your trademarked tomato is NEBULA and it is a hybrid developed by Syngenta, the biotech and breeding company, a competitor to DuPont, Monsanto, BASF and the rest of that crowd. It is available at Mark & Spencers in the UK as a fresh market tomato. Nebula is actually a variety name for their secret code known as "Red cherry TT80154", described by "stands out for its intense, fruity flavor and high organic acid and sugar
content". It is part of their new push into breeding "snacking" tomatoes.

I would suggest you try to grow Sungold which is a delicious tomato if you haven't already. When these new tomatoes get their marketing campaigns initiated, they tend to overly hype the product launch. I don't know what yours tastes like but I'd bet down to my last tomato this season that it wouldn't be as good as my Sungolds! Tomatoes sold in stores have additional breeding requirements and though they may be bred for flavor, usually there are compromises made so try a few that don't have that constraint and you probably can get something better ... not to mention that being home grown it will have a huge advantage in taste over the distribution system retailers use to get fruits to market.

Nebula, or Sweet Rosso (TM), is SWEET. Other sweet tomatoes to try are Isis Candy, Gardener's Delight, and the hybrid Super Sweet 100. You can expect Nebula to be licensed in Europe with different trademarked names in each country/sales region, and it no doubt will find its way across the Atlantic and Pacific as well.

Here is a picture of Nebula (on the right):

Syngenta hybrid tomato 'Nebula'

PC

Hi PC

Thank you so much for your reply. I am so impressed with your expertise in this subject.

As you explained in your message the Sweet Rosso variety can be purchased from Marks and Spencer's and that is where I purchased them from as I live in the UK.

Would you know what name the Nebula variety of tomato would be known as over here?

Best regards

Georgina

Hi Georgina, Nebula is the correct variety name worldwide since Syngenta actually decided to name it for the benefit of their marketing department and growers worldwide.

Just to be clear, Sweet Rosso (TM) is only a trademark that Marks and Spencer is using at the moment to give the impression to consumers that they have an exclusive, in partnership with the UK grower who has the real exclusivity. In fact M & S doesn't have an exclusive and you can buy the same tomato at ASDA that is also selling it, where they are more transparent and usually list grower information on the package which should include the name Nebula on the informational label as the variety. Here is a picture of ASDA's Nebula from the same exclusive UK grower, and note the variety name is kindly in fine print on the label, being sold in ASDA under the brand name "Tomtastic Tomatoes"

The UK grower behind this is Melrow Salads' facility for Flavourfresh Salads brand in the Lancashire area where Andy Roe is the Manager that has the contract with Syngenta for the UK.

FF has a huge high tech specialty glasshouse hydroponically growing tomatoes year round, heavily using intense artificial LED light in winter. That vision is a lot different from the painting Flavourfresh gave M&S of the Nebula variety for marketing purposes, which suggest the traditional Italian Riviera LOL. Got to admit these guys are fantastic marketeers and quite innovative. Brings back memories when I was there doing this. Click on this link to see the Nebula variety of tomatoes growing in the Flavourfresh glasshouse in the background:

Flavourfresh gift to Marks & Spensers

Hope that helps a bit more. The closest you can get to a plant is by visiting Flavourfresh and asking Mr. Roe for a tour of the Lansdale nursery ;-) But like I mentioned earlier, you can grow more flavorful tomatoes in your home garden in the Summer since they go straight from your garden to the plate and will be at their very best. The best OP red cherry tomato that is tried and true might be Gardener's Delight, available here in seeds, but now is transplant time so you can pick up (and maybe Sungold too) transplants at a local Nursery catering to home tomato gardeners.

PC

This summer I tasted a Nebula F2 with 14% Brix. What a very tasty tomato. It is the tastiest of 100 heirloom varieties.

Has anyone tried to make an OP version of Nebula F1 (Red cherry TT80154)?