Heavier than a Yorkshire Terrier: Iowa’s giant eggplant

An enormous aubergine grown in Iowa, USA, weighing 3.778 kg (8 lb 5.3 oz), has been officially recognised as the world’s heaviest eggplant.

Comparable in weight to an adult Yorkshire terrier, this colossal vegetable is over ten times the size of an average eggplant.

Dave Bennett, the gardener behind this record-breaking achievement, planted the globe eggplant, also known as the American eggplant, in early April.

By the time it was harvested on July 31 in Bloomfield, Iowa, the eggplant measured an impressive 71.12 cm (2 ft 3.9 in) in circumference and stood 35.56 cm (1 ft 1.16 in) tall from stem to base.

Officially Measured

The weighing was conducted at Bennett’s home using calibrated digital scales, with oversight by Ivan Hankins from the Iowa Department of Agriculture & Land Stewardship’s Weights & Measures Bureau.

Hankins initially mistook another large eggplant in Bennett’s garden for the record-breaker, only to be corrected and amazed by the actual contender. “I thought for a moment we had close to a 10-pounder!” he said.

Big Deal

This achievement is a source of pride for Iowa, a state traditionally known for its corn, with Hankins humorously noting, “We have the LARGEST EGGPLANT on record! It is a proud moment and BIG deal for the State of Iowa!”

Bennett, who also grows a variety of other fruits and vegetables, expressed his satisfaction with this accomplishment, despite not being particularly fond of eating eggplants himself. He recalled that his father, who loved eggplants, would have eagerly tried to cook it.

Personal Best

This aubergine eclipses Bennett’s previous personal best, a 2.54-kg (5-lb 9.6-oz) eggplant from 2022, which was a North American record at the time.

The seeds from that 2022 fruit were used to grow this new world record holder.

Bennett credits the size of this year’s eggplant to the improvements he made to his soil and favourable weather conditions, though the growing process wasn’t without challenges, including bug infestations and severe storms.

Collecting Seeds

Looking to the future, Bennett plans to collect seeds from his record-setting aubergine and share them with clubs, allowing others to attempt growing their own giant eggplants.

Confident that an even heavier aubergine can be grown, he intends to keep some of the seeds for himself.

Bennett offers some advice to aspiring giant vegetable growers: “Ensure your soil is in good condition, use a balanced fertiliser, focus on one mega bloom, trim off any new growth, and then hope for the best!”