This Is the World’s Heaviest Blueberry
It’s hard not to be fascinated by unusually large produce. Who could forget the drama of the record-setting pumpkin that got disqualified for one tiny crack? Today, we’re delighted to show you the newest entrant into the Big Fruit Hall of Fame—and it’s a variety that’s typically known for its diminutive size. Guinness World Records has confirmed that the heaviest blueberry ever recorded was recently grown in Australia. This thing weighed in at nearly 70 times the heft of your average wild blueberry.
The world’s heaviest recorded blueberry, explained
This big, bouncy specimen was grown by Costa Group’s berry farm in Corindi, New South Wales, by horticulturists Brad Hocking, Jessica Scalzo, and Marie-France Cortois.
The blueberry weighed 20.4 grams, and as is evident by the big grin on Hocking’s face as he weighs the blueberry (video above), the horticulturists were delighted by the achievement. Many of the Instagram commenters expressed that they wished to be the honored one to eat it.
The berry, which took a whole year to grow, is from the Eterna variety of blueberry plant, recently developed by Costa Group. Costa also grows avocados, bananas, citrus fruits, grapes, mushrooms, and tomatoes.
As it grew, Hocking did notice that the berry’s size was “tracking really well,” but didn’t realize that it was in a league of its own until the morning he picked it. This plant variety, according to Hocking, yields consistently large fruit, and he tells Guinness World Records that “When we picked this one, there were probably around 20 other berries of a similar size.”
Unlike the previous large produce stories that have captivated the internet, like the magnificent yields of independent farmer Gerald Stratford, or “Doug,” the world’s largest spud grown by home gardeners (though Doug’s classification was eventually disputed), Costa Group is a corporation aiming to create new varieties of plants that can adapt to pests, disease, and harsher climates. At the rate modern horticulture is moving, we might end up with kiwi-sized blueberries amidst the race to adapt to climate change. Imagine those muffins.
