Israel’s Strawberry Watch is the Heaviest in the World

KADIMA-ZORAN, Israel (AP)

After a year-long jam, a giant Israeli strawberry is going into the record books.

At a whopping 289 grams (10.19 ounces, over half a pound), this week’s titanic berry was declared the world’s largest by Guinness World Records.

The strawberry was picked at Chahi Ariel’s family farm near the city of Netanya, central Israel in February 2021. But just this week, Guinness confirmed it was the heaviest on record.

Ariel said: “We have been waiting for the results for a year. “We kept it in the freezer for a year. It’s not as pretty as it used to be.”

The Super Large Strawberry is a local variety called Ilan that tends to grow to enormous sizes. Ariel says the record-setting specimen has shrunk to half the size it was a year ago.

The previous record for the heaviest strawberry was a Japanese fruit grown in 2015 in Fukuoka, weighing 250 grams (8.8 ounces).

The wait turned out to be fruitful. Ariel said he jumped in the car, laughing and singing when he heard the news. “We are delighted to be included in the Guinness World Records,” he said.

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