Giant Ilan Strawberry: Israel Grows a Palm-Sized World's Largest Strawberry, Each Weighing a Record 289 Grams

Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel from the Kadima area grew a giant strawberry in his own strawberry patch in 2021, weighing 289 grams, 5 times the weight of an ordinary strawberry, as if several strawberries had fused together, forming a fan shape, 18 cm long, 4 cm thick and 34 cm in circumference. It had been kept in the refrigerator until now, when it was confirmed to have received Guinness World Records certification as the world's heaviest strawberry.  Kadima said that when he first saw the big strawberry in the patch he was very happy, so he took a photo and sent it to friends; one friend saw it, and his grandson looked it up online and found that this strawberry had broken the Guinness World Record. Ariel said that strawberry growth is greatly affected by temperature, and this variety named Ilan can grow very large, usually being heaviest in winter, with a single berry reaching about 60 grams; because the winter of 2021 was quite cold, it further slowed the strawberry's ripening process, allowing it to keep growing. The previous record was held by a 250-gram strawberry grown by a Japanese farmer.