Grower Seeks World Record with 5 Pound Avocado
HAWAII - While those of us in the business of produce often encounter prize products of cartoon-like proportions, the grower of what could be the largest avocado on record likely has no idea what they’ve achieved.
On the Big Island of Hawaii, Pamela Wang spots avocados fallen from their branches on her walks, and spotted one that most might not have identified as the coveted green fruit.
“I see avocados every day, and I pick up avocados every day, but this one...it was hard to miss,” Wang said, according to The Guardian. “It was as big as my head.”
Wang reported finding the avocado under a tree that hangs over a street. According to the news source, anything overhanging or dropped outside a private property line is free for anyone to claim.
Friends put in the research and found that the five pound produce item might be the largest on record, and Wang has since contacted the Guinness World Records to find out for sure.
Because Guinness requires an expert be present for the weighing, Wang enlisted Ken Love, Executive Director of Hawaii Tropical Fruit Growers, to witness.
“I’ve seen (avocados) longer and I’ve seen them fatter, but not both,” said Love, verifying the fruit’s weight at 5.23 pounds. “I think people have other ones that they don’t weigh, but I think this one, it was way up there.”
While Elizabeth Montoya, Assistant Public Relations Manager for Guinness World Records America Inc., wrote to the hopeful applicant that the company does not have a category for the largest avocado, it does have one for the heaviest.
Submitted by Gabriel Ramirez Nahim of Caracas, Venezuela, Guinness verified an avocado which weighed 4 pounds, 13.2 ounces in January of 2009.
Did Wang chance upon the world’s heaviest avocado? With her application submitted to Guinness, she expects to hear back in the next two months. We will report as the story develops.