Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel holds a strawberry weighing a whopping 289 grams in Kadima-Zoran, Israel on Feb 17, 2022. (ARIEL SCHALIT / AP)

JERUSALEM - Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel has grown the world's heaviest strawberry, according to Guinness World Records.

Israeli farmer Chahi Ariel holds a strawberry weighing a whopping 289 grams in Kadima-Zoran, Israel on Feb 17, 2022. (ARIEL SCHALIT / AP)

The strawberry was about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel's Volcani Institute where the strain was developed

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Ariel had been hoping he was onto a winner when they saw how big the fruit were growing on his family farm last year. He has been waiting for confirmation it was a record while keeping the giant strawberry in the freezer as proof.

"When we heard, it was an amazing feeling. I jumped in the car, laughed and sang," said Ariel, proudly displaying his certificate on a laptop. "We’ve been waiting for this for a long time."

At 289 grams, the strawberry was about five times the average weight of a regular berry of the local Ilan variety, said Nir Dai, a researcher at Israel's Volcani Institute where the strain was developed.

The strawberry was 18 cm long and 34 cm in circumference, the online Guinness entry said.

A strawberry weighing a whopping 289 grams is on display in Kadima-Zoran, Israel on Feb 17, 2022. (ARIEL SCHALIT / AP)

Unusually cold weather in early 2021 slowed the strawberry's ripening process, allowing it to continue gaining weight, according to the record book's website.

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The previous record was held by a Japanese farmer who discovered a 250-gram strawberry in his harvest in 2015.