A blueberry close to the size of a golf ball has broken the world record for being the heaviest and largest blueberry ever to be produced.
It was grown on a farm in Corindi, New South Wales in Australia, by the Costa Group, the country’s largest horticultural company. The produced berry weighs 20.40 grams and has a width of almost 4 centimeters or 39.31 millimeters.
New Guinness World record for heaviest blueberry
Grown by senior horticulturist Brad Hocking, Costa’s variety improvement manager Jessica Scalzo, and Marie-France Courtois, who have their names too on the Guinness World Record website.
“This really is a delightful piece of fruit. While the fruit is large, there’s absolutely no compromise on quality or flavor as would be expected when developing a premium variety blueberry,” Brad said.
The blueberry, which was picked on November 13, 2023, at Costa’s berry farm, managed to beat the previous record holder, which we are imagining must be beating the blues after losing its touted position as the queen of blueberries, was a berry grown in Western Australia in 2020 weighing 16.2 grams.
“We are always looking to develop new varieties that improve on the current benchmark and meet evolving customer requirements. We are also looking to breed varieties that are more adaptable to hotter climates, are more drought tolerant and with better resistance against pest and disease pressure,” said George Jessett, International Horticulture Manager at Costa Group.
A heavyweight champion
The blueberry came from the Eterna variety, part of Costa’s Variety Improvement Program (VIP), which is in the business of licensing Costa-bred blueberry varieties in areas like the Americas, Morocco, China, and southeast Africa.
Costa’s VIP program is based in Corindi and has been running for over 25 years. Each year, it creates about one to two new blueberry varieties with global commercial appeal.
“Eterna as a variety has a really great flavor and consistently large fruit. When we picked this one, there were probably around 20 other berries of a similar size,” said Hocking.
The berry was stocked in a refrigerator since November when it was found, and finally, after 12 weeks, was certified by Guinness World Records.
BBC asked Hocking if they knew what the berry tasted like, to which he laughingly replied that it would most likely be not consumed and commemorated in some way or the other.
His team has decided to spare it from immediate consumption and instead enjoyed its smaller companions. “We get second breakfast every day… we don’t have to eat this one,” he quips.
“There’s been a few ideas, maybe like a resin cast and mounting it on the wall or something. It’s a different experience, eating a berry that is that large. We see it more as people who are consuming them as snacks, more than maybe the traditional uses in breakfasts and baking,” added Hocking.
But certainly, the flavor and the firmness is there – it’s got a nice crunch to it and a high level of blueberry aromatics, confirmed Hocking to BBC.
