Quick Summary of White Sugar (Sakhar Belyi)
- 🌍 Origin: An Eastern European heirloom variety. The name translates directly to “White Sugar” (Sakhar Belyi).
- 🌿 Plant Habit: Indeterminate (tall), but often behaves as a mid-sized sprawling bush in open ground, reaching about 1.6 meters (5.2 ft). It is a mid-to-late season variety.
- 🍅 Fruit Characteristics: Medium-sized oblate (flattened) beefsteaks, typically weighing 100-200g (3.5-7 oz). They start pale green and ripen to a creamy white. If left hanging in the sun, they can develop a slight pink blush (a “pink cap”) on the blossom end. The skin is very tender.
- 👅 Flavor Debate: This variety is highly polarizing! Some growers describe it as bland and watery, claiming the word “sugar” is misleading. However, others absolutely love it for its mild, refreshing sweetness and complete lack of the sharp, acidic “nightshade” bite.
- ⚕️ Dietary Benefits: Low in acid and lacking red pigmentation, this is a 100% dietary variety. It is highly recommended for allergy sufferers or those with pancreas/stomach acid issues.
Here are two varieties with similar fruits: Lotus and White Sugar. White Sugar has a flatter fruit. Lotus turned out to be more productive for me; I’m growing it for the second year. The fruits of both varieties are very tender; they are absolutely not suitable for transportation, you have to eat them straight off the bush.
The taste is sweet and good, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding. Overall, these are varieties you grow just to play around with the color. Lotus fruits are a bit larger – 100-200g (3.5-7 oz). White Sugar is 100-120g (3.5-4.2 oz).
Also, such varieties (just like green-fruited ones) are suitable for allergy sufferers and for those who cannot eat highly acidic foods.
Yes, those who have a sick pancreas can eat such varieties. So, these types of tomatoes are definitely needed!
And here is my White Sugar – it came out with a little pointy “tongue” 😳. The bush is mid-sized, the yield is good. The taste seemed a bit bland, but it did smell like a proper tomato. The fruits weighed around 130-150 grams (4.5-5.3 oz).
Alexander said:
The taste is sweet and good, but I wouldn’t call it outstanding… Lotus fruits are a bit larger – 100-200g. White Sugar is 100-120g.
Mine looked exactly like that. It grew outdoors in open ground, and fruit set was excellent. But it was sown and planted late, so I want to test its full potential next year. It seemed much more pleasant in taste than Lotus. There was no nasty nightshade aftertaste.
Seeds are from Dukhov (Ukraine).
– Bush description: mid-late variety, sprawling, with suckers.
– Fruit set: no skipped blossoms, the top trusses are currently ripening.
– Height: outdoors on August 14th – 1.6m (5.2 ft).
– Trusses: 3-4 fruits each.
– Overall yield: high.
– Fruit: oblate, greenish at milky stage, creamy-white when fully ripe.
– Firmness of ripe fruit: medium, doesn’t overripen on the bush, surprisingly good shelf life.
– Taste: balanced, with a slight tartness, juicy, sweetness rating is a 4 (out of 5)!
First impression: a tomato for processing/canning. It doesn’t crack.
Minuses: I wasn’t impressed by the sweetness.
Ratings (out of 5): Seedling – 5, Bush – 4, Fruit – 4, Overall rating for the variety – 4.
This was my first and last experiment with white varieties. I just don’t like them.
Indeterminate, grew in a greenhouse in 2015, pruned to 2 stems. The fruits are oblate, mine were 150-200g (5.3-7 oz). White, but some that hung on the vine for a long time “put on” a small pink cap (blush). The taste is bland, neither sour nor sweet… watery, the word “sugar” is clearly unnecessary in the variety’s name. Average yield.
Alena said:
This was my first and last experiment with white varieties. I just don’t like them.
I completely agree with you! 😃 This year is my last experiment with whites – growing White Beauty, just to put my mind at ease, so to speak 😃
But I really liked the taste. Very tender, sweetish, refreshing. The typical tomato aftertaste (solanine) is not felt at all. Not sharp, a 100% dietary variety.
I actually liked the taste of White Sugar. For me, it was genuinely sweet. The minus is that it took a very long time to sprout and get going. The yield was average. But for the taste alone – I will plant it again.
