Do you have a vegetable garden?  If so, you may be interested in adding the latest edible plant to your garden this spring.  It is called “Ketchup ‘N’ Fries”.   This odd creation combines a cherry tomato grafted onto a white potato.

This tomato potato plant is not genetically engineered.  It is done through a process called grafting, which has been practiced since ancient times. Grafting takes two different plants from the same family and fuses them together.  If it has been done successfully, the end result should be a plant that produces higher yields and is disease resistant.

Fruit trees, roses and grapevines have often been grafted onto hardy rootstocks.  Take a tree that isn’t able to produce juicy fruit but has strong roots, not prone to disease. Combine it with branches of tasty fruit trees, and the result can be quite superior.

This isn’t the only way to graft plants together.  Another method of grafting used by botanists is to take 2 separate seedlings with stems the same size and shape, and cut them in half.  Then, they are fused with a tiny plastic clip and are grown into one plant. If done properly, the result is a stronger organism.

According to spokesperson Michael Perry, from Thomas & Morgan, the company that first developed the plant in the U.K. “It’s not just any old tomato or any old potato. It’s actually a really good, all round potato at the base. Then, on the top, you’ve got the potential to have up to 500 super- sweet fruit.”

Thomas & Morgan already have a successful tomato potato plant.  Last year about 40,000 “TomTatoes” were sold in the U.K.

Maybe they could also fuse grapes and coca beans and call the plant “Chocolate and Wine”. Now, that would be my cup of tea, or rather wine. I could start a vineyard, or would  I call it a plantation to grow this new species?  I know, I could start a “vinetation”.  Yeah, my next enterprise….

To your Health!

Peter Gillham