Mankind has made it their mission to grow impossibly large fruits and vegetables for decades. The world’s largest mango weighed a whopping 9.36 pounds back in 2020. Shortly after, the world’s heaviest eggplant emerged in 2021, weighing 6.14 pounds. Although these numbers are amazing, they don’t come close to the incredible size of the world’s largest bunch of bananas. This record has been held since 2001, and no one has come close to beating it. Let’s explore the story of the largest banana bunch ever grown.
The Largest Banana Bunch Ever Grown
The farm awarded with this banana world record is Finca Experimental de las Calmas, located in El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain. It was there that two men named Kabana SA and Tecorone SL grew the largest banana bunch ever in 2001. For years prior, the owners dedicated large portions of farmland to the production of this fruit. It’s only natural that this farm ushered in the world-record-breaking bunch! At the time of harvesting, the bunch contained 473 bananas and weighed a whopping 287 pounds. Because of these impressive numbers, Guinness World Records declared it the largest banana bunch ever grown.
Other World Record Breaking Bananas
While we’re on the subject of the largest banana bunch ever, you might be wondering about how big the largest individual banana was. The giant Highland banana is a species native to the country of Papua New Guinea where it can grow to be as long as 30 centimeters in length! Even though there isn’t one banana in particular that takes the title of “world’s largest banana,” Guinness World Records recognized this species as the largest banana species on Earth.
According to their website, “Its main ‘trunk’ regularly reaches heights of 15 meters (49 feet) and its unfurled leaves as high as 20 meters (66 feet) off the ground.” Despite how impressive these numbers are, there are reports that certain plants have grown almost 100 feet tall. This hasn’t been verified, and these numbers are hard to wrap your mind around.
Final Thoughts
If you want to gain some perspective on how large the world’s biggest banana bunch actually was, take a look at the bananas on display next time you are grocery shopping. Most food stores will stock roughly 200 bananas at a time. The largest banana bunch ever grown included over double that number! It’s clear why this record has not yet been beaten!
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