‘Pomatoes’ are potato plants that can also grow tomatoes.

Tomatoes: so easy a potato can grow them. Well, not quite, but the two do occasionally join forces and result in the aptly named “pomato” plant. That two-for-the-price-of-one hybrid occurs when a tomato plant is grafted onto a potato plant, which is relatively easy to do since both belong to the Solanum genus of the nightshade family. 

The pomato isn’t its own fruit, however — it’s a plant that grows both foods at the same time: tomatoes on the vine and potatoes under the soil. Peppers, eggplants, and tobacco are also members of the Solanum genus, and tomato plants can be grafted onto them as well.

Potatoes are grown in all 50 states.

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It's a fact

They really are easy to grow, hence why residents of all 50 states — not to mention more than 125 countries — do so.

Nicknamed the “ketchup ’n’ fries” plant and sometimes called “tomtatoes,” these plants have been grown since at least 1833. In addition to the novelty of growing two things at once, pomatoes can benefit from both plants’ natural advantages: potatoes’ cold resistance and tomatoes’ heat resistance. The potatoes and tomatoes grown from these hybrid plants don’t taste any different than their normal counterparts, but they are more convenient to grow.

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