Five Star Grape Tomato
Johnny's own 2011 entry in the grape tomato boom that Taiwan started, sold as their sweetest grape with no Brix number published, no disease codes on paper, and a market farmer's field record that quietly outperforms both gaps.
Flavor & performance
The honest verdict
What's great
- Bred in house by Johnny's Selected Seeds and marketed as their sweetest grape tomato
- Early at about 60 days with heavy yields until frost
- Crack resistant fruit that holds on the vine and in the lunchbox
- A Virginia market farmer ranks it among her most productive and most disease resistant tomatoes
- Firm, meaty, few seeded fruit that travels and stores better than cherries
Watch out for
- No disease resistance codes published anywhere, unusual even among grape types
- No Brix number behind the sweetest grape claim
- F1 hybrid, so saved seed will not come true
- No university trial data exists to check any of the catalog claims
- Firm, low juice texture reads as a downgrade to gardeners who love a bursting cherry
Grow it in your zone
| Trait | Five Star Grape Tomato | Juliet | Sun Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Red grape | Large red grape, saladette | Orange cherry |
| Days | ~60 | 60 | 57 |
| Fruit | 15 to 20 g, firm | 1.5 to 2 oz | 15 g, thin skinned |
| Texture | Meaty, few seeds | Meaty, crack resistant | Juicy, bursting |
| Flavor | Sweet, mild acid | Balanced, more savory | Intense, fruity sweet |
| Save seeds | No, F1 | No, F1 | No, F1 |
The Five Star Grape tomato is what happened when a beloved American seed catalog entered a category Taiwan invented. Johnny’s Selected Seeds bred it in house, launched it in 2011, and called it their best tasting grape tomato.
Fifteen seasons later it is still on their rack. In the seed trade, that is its own kind of review. This guide covers what the catalog says and what it conspicuously does not.
It also covers the one long term field record we found, which says more than either.
First, the category: how grape tomatoes happened
Grape tomatoes barely existed in American gardens before the late 1990s. The turning point came in 1997. A grower brought a Taiwanese variety called Santa F1 to the United States, sourced from Taiwan’s Known You Seed Company.
Within a few years the little oblong fruit had conquered supermarket produce aisles.
The appeal was practical. Grape types are firmer, meatier, and less juicy than cherries. They resist cracking, survive shipping, and don’t squirt across the table.
Seed companies everywhere raced to breed their own.
Five Star Grape is Johnny’s entry in that race, bred on their own program rather than licensed from Taiwan. It arrived in 2011 with the company’s confidence attached. Bred by us, they said, and we think it is our best tasting grape.
What the fruit is actually like
Each fruit weighs 15 to 20 grams, a bit over half an ounce, bright red and uniform. The texture is the grape signature taken seriously: firm and meaty, little juice, and almost no seeds. Bite one and it chews more like fruit than like a water balloon.
That texture divides gardeners honestly. If you love the burst of a thin skinned cherry, a grape type reads as a downgrade. If you pack lunchboxes, haul fruit to market, or hate split skins, it reads as the whole point.
On sweetness, precision fails. Johnny’s calls it their sweetest grape tomato and publishes no Brix number. No independent measurement exists anywhere we could find.
Grower language supports a truly sweet, mild fruit. Believe the direction of the claim while noticing it comes without a number.
The paperwork gap, and the field record that fills it
Here is the odd part of Five Star Grape’s file. No disease resistance codes are published for it, anywhere. And no university has ever included it in a formal trial.
We confirmed that by checking the grape tomato trials at NC State, Georgia, and elsewhere.
What exists instead is better than nothing, and arguably better than codes. Pam Dawling is a Virginia market farmer who documents her hoophouse crops publicly. She has grown Five Star Grape across many seasons.
In her assessments it lands on both of her short lists: most productive and most disease resistant. It shares that second list with famously tough varieties like Sun Gold and Black Cherry.
A multi season commercial record from one careful grower is not a replicated trial. But it is real fruit from real beds, and it is the strongest independent evidence this variety has. The claims survive contact with a working farm.
Growing the Five Star Grape tomato
Starting and transplanting
Start seeds indoors 5 to 6 weeks before last frost, germinating warm at 75 to 85 F. Grow stocky transplants and set them out after frost, 24 to 36 inches apart in full sun. Bury the stems deep.
Support, water, and feeding
This is a true indeterminate that can run 4 to 8 feet. Give it a 5 to 6 foot stake or trellis and prune suckers below the first strong branch. Keep moisture consistent and mulch well, per our guide to watering tomatoes.
Crack resistant is not crack proof, and steady water also protects the heavy fruit load. Feed on a steady schedule per our guide to fertilizing tomatoes. Treat the plant as uncoded for disease: airflow, base watering, rotation, and our disease guide at the first spotted leaf.
Harvest
First ripe fruit arrives around 60 days from transplant, early for a full season producer. Pick at full red. The firm fruit picks clean, holds on the vine without splitting, and keeps on the counter far longer than cherries.
Expect steady clusters until frost, and check our cherry tomato guide for the class basics.
Grower's Picks for Five Star Grape
The gear that matters most for growing Five Star Grape well, so you can buy the right thing once.
In the kitchen
The Five Star Grape tomato is a snacking and salad type that keeps its shape. Halved into salads, it doesn’t flood the bowl. Roasted, it concentrates instead of collapsing, and whole, it survives a backpack.
The low juice that costs it drama raw is exactly what makes it roast and pack so well. Sauce is beside the point at this size.
Five Star Grape vs Juliet vs Sun Gold
Against Juliet, the beloved oversized grape, the difference is scale and use. Juliet runs three times the weight, close to a small saladette. Its more savory balance leans toward salsas and quick sauces.
Five Star is the true snack sized grape, sweeter by reputation and easier to eat by the handful.
Against Sun Gold, the orange cherry that wins taste tests, the contest is texture and durability. Sun Gold is sweeter and more intense, and it splits if you look at it wrong. Five Star trades peak flavor for firm fruit that ships, stores, and survives rain.
Market growers commonly grow both and let the customers sort themselves.
The verdict
The Five Star Grape tomato is a quietly credible workhorse from a company that rarely brags without cause. The gaps in its file are real: no disease codes, no Brix number, no trial data. The record that exists outweighs them.
Fifteen years on the rack, and a market farmer’s repeated endorsement on both yield and health.
Grow it if you want an early, tough, sweet red grape that produces until frost and travels anywhere. Pair it with one reckless, thin skinned flavor bomb, and your snack bowl is covered from both directions.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Five Star Grape tomato?
An F1 red grape tomato bred by Johnny’s Selected Seeds, introduced in 2011. Fruit is 15 to 20 grams, firm and meaty with few seeds, on an indeterminate vine starting around 60 days.
How sweet is Five Star Grape really?
Sweet by every account, but no Brix number exists, published or independent. The sweetest grape claim is plausible and unmeasured.
Is Five Star Grape disease resistant?
No codes are published. A Virginia market farmer’s multi season record ranks it among her most disease resistant hoophouse tomatoes, so the practical reports beat the missing paperwork.
Do grape tomatoes like Five Star crack less than cherry tomatoes?
Yes. The firm, low juice flesh resists cracking on the vine and after rain. That is a defining advantage of the grape class.
Can I save seeds from Five Star Grape?
No. It is an F1 hybrid, and saved seed will not come true. Buy fresh seed each season.