This giant plum, which is as big as a mango and grown on a farm outside George, tipped the scales at 464,15 g – enough to make it the world’s largest plum yet.

“I finally heard that we won plum,” said an excited Dean Barnard, hops and plum farmer from Oppie Plaas farming in Waboomskraal. He entered the plum into the Guinness World Records in March.

The farm grows the ever-popular Autumn Treat plums in the heart of the Outeniqua Mountains for export.

This cultivar is known for its sweet taste and crisp texture – unlike Japanese and Chinese plums – and is a favourite overseas. The record plum easily dethroned its Japanese predecessor, a plum of 354,57 g that set the record in 2021.

Dean, who was recently named the Western Cape Young Farmer of the Year and features in the latest edition of Landbouweekblad, sister title of African Farming, farms with his father, Deon.

He came across the record-breaking fruit while going through crates of freshly harvested plums from their eight-year-old orchard.

“I walked past the crate and saw the plum. We’ve had a few other big ones, and maybe if we’d looked harder we might have found one that’s even bigger.”

He said the plum weighed 480 g when harvested, but due to moisture loss it lost a few grams to the record weight recorded.

Oppie Plaas is known as a hops farm and the only plum producer in the valley. Autumn Treat is grafted onto Garnhan rootstocks and loves the good cold periods the valley has to offer.

“I am very proud of our performance. It is officially the biggest plum in the world and another feather in the cap for Waboomskraal. Now we’re just waiting for that Guinness World Records certificate,” said Dean.