TomTato Plant Hitting the U.S. Market
UNITED STATES – I don’t often go to the garden to grab some ketchup and fries, but that may soon change.
The TomTato, which we previously reported on, is making its way to the U.S. market with a very appropriate name: Ketchup ‘n’ Fries™.
This non-GMO innovation in vegetable growing is a tomato plant grafted onto a potato plant. It is capable of growing more than 500 sweet cherry tomatoes with a Brix level of 10.2 while producing up to four pounds of white potatoes at the roots.
According to Territorial Seed Company and SuperNaturals Grafted Vegetables, the companies responsible for bringing this product to the U.S., extensive trials and careful selection of both the tomato scion and potato rootstock cultivars were required to achieve properly staggered maturity. This enables the plant to focus its energy first on yielding hundreds of sweet, tangy tomatoes followed by the all-purpose white potatoes.
This marks the first time that a plant like this has been offered commercially in the U.S. Though there have been similar products on the market, the TomTato is unique because the potato and tomato is planted in the same spot, subsequently producing no potato foliage.
Another unique characteristic of Ketchup ‘n’ Fries™ is that the plants can be grown either outside or inside, so long as they are in a large pot or bag.
Territorial Seed and Garden America are currently shipping the plant to the continental U.S., and SuperNaturals expects the plant to be found in garden centers this spring.
