Giant Strawberry Sets Guinness World Record

(CNN) — Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel grew the world’s heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.

At 289 grams, the strawberry weighed about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel’s Volcani Institute, where this variant was developed.

The strawberry was 18 centimeters long and 34 centimeters in circumference, according to the Guinness entry.

Ariel expected to be a winner seeing how big the fruit grew on her family’s farm last year. He has been waiting for confirmation that he achieved a record while keeping the giant strawberry in the freezer as proof.

“When we found out, it was an amazing feeling. I got in the car and laughed and sang,” Ariel said, proudly displaying her certificate on a laptop. “We have been waiting for this for a long time.”

Unusually cold weather in early 2021 slowed down the strawberry’s ripening process, allowing it to continue to gain weight, according to the record book’s website.

The previous record was held by a Japanese farmer who discovered a 250-gram strawberry in his harvest in 2015.