Strawberry from Israel sets record as world’s heaviest

KADIMA-ZORAN, Israel — That is a lot of jam.

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A farmer in Israel has grown the world’s heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.

The berry, grown by Chahi Ariel, was a hefty 289 grams, or 10.19 ounces, and was weighed in Kadima-Zoran, on Feb. 12, 2021, Guinness said. The record-keeping agency confirmed the weight this week, according to The Associated Press.

The strawberry is about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel’s Volcani Institute where the strain was developed, told CNN.

The strawberry measured 7 inches long and had a circumference of 13 inches, according to Guinness. It was grown by Ariel’s family business, Strawberries in the Field.

“We waited for a year for the results,” Ariel told the AP. “We kept it in the freezer for a year. It’s no longer as pretty as it was.”

The previous record was held by a Japanese farmer in Fukouka who discovered an 8.8-ounce strawberry in his 2015 harvest, according to the AP.

It was a fruitful wait for Ariel, who now has a certificate from Guinness verifying his world record.

“When we heard, it was an amazing feeling. I jumped in the car, laughed and sang,” Ariel told CNN. “We’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

Dai said colder weather during the winter months of early 2021 was the reason the strawberry grew so large.

“During this strawberry season in late January and early February it was particularly cold,” Dai, who was one of the witnesses during the strawberry’s weigh-in, told Guinness. “The strawberry developed slowly for more than 45 days from flowering which caused its large size at full ripening stage.”

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