Ariel Chahi (Israel) has grown a supersized strawberry that weighed 289 g (10.19 oz) on 12 February 2021.
The fruit, which has been confirmed as the world’s heaviest strawberry, was 18 cm long, 4 cm thick and 34 cm in circumference.
This strawberry is of the Ilan variety and was grown by Ariel’s family business "Strawberries in the Field" (תות בשדה משק אריאל), located in Kadima-Zoran, Israel.
The size of the world's biggest strawberry was put into perspective when Ariel weighed it after weighing an iPhone XR. The iPhone weighed 194 grams, almost 100 g less than the massive strawberry.
The Ilan variety of strawberry was originally bred by Dr. Nir Dai, a researcher from the Israel's Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), at the ARO Volcani Center in Bet-Dagan, near Tel-Aviv.
The Ilan variety of strawberry is known producing large fruits.
"During this strawberry season in late January and early February it was particularly cold," explained Dr. Nir Dai, who was one of the witnesses during the strawberry's weigh-in.
"The strawberry developed slowly for more than 45 days from flowering which caused it’s large size at full ripening stage."
This meant that multiple berries grew and fused together to form one large strawberry.
"'Ilan' cultivar has many large and unusual fruits, but it is the largest strawberry I have ever seen." - Dr. Nir Dai, ARO Stawberry breeder
The cold weather conditions described by Dr. Nir Dai led to a bumper crop of strawberries for Ariel’s fruit farm, producing not just one, but four sizable strawbs.
However, the heavyweight champion weighed in at 289 g (10.19 oz) – or 299 g with its stem.
The previous record for world's heaviest strawberry was 250 g (8.82 oz). The berry was grown by Koji Nakao (Japan) and was weighed in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan, on 28 January 2015. The strawberry was a Japanese variety called Amaou.
