This Couple In New Zealand Accidentally Grew A Massive Potato That Could Be The World’s Biggest
Meet Donna and Colin Craig-Brown, a couple living in Waikato, New Zealand, who may have grown the world’s biggest potato.
Meet Donna and Colin Craig-Brown, a couple living in Waikato, New Zealand, who may have grown the world’s biggest potato.
The couple were tidying up their vegetable garden one Saturday in August when Colin hit what he thought was a sweet potato with a hoe.
The couple got on their knees and dug and dug, but still couldn’t get it out. It was only after Colin got the garden fork and “impaled the old chap” that they were able to pull out the giant spud, the couple told Almost.
“I thought, ‘what an ugly piece of vegetable this is,'” he said. “We hosed it down and had a bit of a laugh and thought ‘what the hell is going on?'”
Colin conducted a taste test, and the couple realized they had dug up a potato, which they discovered weighed 7.9kg after putting it on the electronic scale at the local pharmacy.
The couple said they were initially on the fence about naming the potato, but later decided to call it “Dug”.
“Well, we ‘dug’ him up,” Colin said.
They took some photos and shared it on Donna’s Facebook, where a lot of her friends started commenting, and soon a niece suggested they go for the world record.
Donna’s mother also secured them an interview on NZ Gardener magazine. After the piece published, the story started going viral and getting picked up everywhere around the world.
The couple have started the process of applying for a world record, but said they are not too concerned about whether they get it or not.
“The thing is, it was very unexpected, it was a very pleasant surprise, and we’re very casual about it,” Donna said.
“We’re just trying to have fun with it,” Colin said. “At the end of the day, it’s still a bloody potato.”
They made a little trolley for Dug so they could go for a walk and even put him on a tiny bicycle, they said.
“It’s just nice to have something nice and humorous,” Donna said. “It’s just a happy discovery that mother nature made for us to be able to do this, so we thought, ‘let’s share the joy.'”
Dug is now living in the “local cryogenic facility” – the freezer, Colin said.
The couple said they have received a lot of suggestions on what to do with Dug after everything is over, and most of them all suggested eating him.
“In my mind, it would be like chewing on your best friend,” Colin said.
Instead they have decided they will hold a wake for Dug, and Colin, being a boutique distiller, will make a batch of potato vodka so they can “toast Dug with Dug.”
