Potatoes are the children of tomatoes

I bet that after reading this you will never look at potatoes in the same way again.

At first glance, potatoes and tomatoes may seem to come from completely different worlds. The potato is a tuberous stem that grows underground – a tuber, therefore! – while the tomato is a fruit that grows hanging from the branches of the tomato plant. Their colours, textures and flavours have nothing in common. But if there is one thing biology teaches us, it is that not everything is what it seems. Here we have another example: these two foods are much closer to each other than one might think. Believe me when I tell you, potatoes really are the children of tomatoes – of an ancestral tomato.

As is customary, we need to go back in time. Fourteen million years ago, ancestral tomatoes lived separate lives from their distant cousins, the Etuberosum – potato-like plants that did not produce tubers. This separation lasted for several million years, and their paths did not cross. Until about nine million years ago, when an encounter took place that changed their lives and ours forever – yes, you read that right, our lives.

The ancestral tomato crossed with Etuberosum, and from this cross was born the hybrid we now call the potato. This new species not only retained the best traits of its progenitors, but also developed something entirely new – and something we love – the tuber.

All of this happened in South America, during a period that coincided with the rise of the Andes mountains and the emergence of new ecological environments.

With a tuber capable of storing nutrients underground, potatoes cooked up the perfect ingredient to adapt quickly to the most challenging environments – and that is exactly what they did. They did not even need to rely on pollinators or seeds to conquer territory – the tuber itself allows them to reproduce independently. This innovation led to an explosion of potato species and varieties, responsible for all the diversity we bring to our plates.

I cannot finish without leaving you with one more revelation – which many of you may already suspect… If the crossing of an ancestral tomato with an Etuberosum gave rise to the potato, this means that our beloved tuber is the tomato’s sibling. Both belong to the same genus: Solanum.

So that you do not have to separate the two siblings that arrived in your box, here is a suggestion: tomato and potato soup!

Enjoy your meal!

Carla R. Lourenço
Marine Biologist, PhD & Science Communication Specialist