Giant blueberry smashes record for heaviest ever
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The reading
A farmer in Australia has just entered the record books for growing the world's biggest ever blueberry. The giant berry weighed in at a mammoth 20.4 grams. This obliterated the previous record, which was 16.2 grams. The record-breaker had a width the size of that of a table tennis ball, a diameter of 39.31 millimetres, and a 12.35-centimetre circumference. The record-breaking berry was almost 10 times heavier than a regular blueberry. The fruit was grown by staff at the Costa Group in New South Wales, Australia. Senior horticulturalist Brad Hocking said he was overjoyed to have the record officially verified by Guinness World Records. He said: "It's a combination of good breeding and good growing."
Mr Hocking said his blueberry was from the Eterna variety, known for its crisp texture and long shelf life. He told reporters: "Eterna, as a variety, has a really great flavour and a consistently large fruit. When we picked this one, there were probably around 20 other berries of a similar size." He added: "While the fruit is large, there's absolutely no compromise on quality or flavour, as would be expected when developing a premium variety." At first, he was unsure whether he had broken the record. He said: "We had to recalibrate the scales to make sure we weren't getting mixed up." When asked what he would do with his prize berry, he suggested a smoothie might be the most fitting end for it.
Sources:
- https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2024/3/behemoth-blueberry-grown-in-australia-verified-as-heaviest-ever-767762
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-14/guinness-world-records-worlds-heaviest-blueberry-costa-berries/103585822
- https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/15/australia/worlds-heaviest-blueberry-scli-intl/index.html
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