KAILUA-KONA — Kenji Fukumitsu struck gold at his Holualoa farm, in the form of what may be the world’s heaviest avocado.
The avocado in question unofficially weighed in at 6 pounds, 11 ounces on Thursday at Urgent Care of Kona, where it was donated by Fukumitsu for the staff at the clinic to use and eat. Dr. Joy McElroy, however, recognized that the massive fruit the farmer was giving away was something special.
“I thought they were normal until I started really looking at other avocados,” McElroy said. “Mr. Fukumitsu thinks this is normal. This is not normal. This is a world record.”
The avocado still has to go through Guinness World Records North America Inc. to be verified as the official world record holder.
The current title is held by a 5 pound, 8 ounce avocado found by Felicidad Pasalo in Hilo last year. Before that, the record was held by another Big Island avocado, a 5 pound, 3.6 ounce fruit found by Pamela Wang of Kealakekua in 2017.
McElroy said most of the avocados Fukumitsu grows outweigh the current world record holder.
“He’s been bringing them in for years, and he just brings them out of the kindness of his heart,” McElroy said. “Nobody believes it until they see them.”
The staff at Urgent Care of Kona said the potential record-breaking avocado weighed in at 6 pounds, 12 ounces before the staff placed it in the facility’s refrigerator to preserve it.
Even with the 1 ounce loss, the avocado would still be the heaviest ever found — at least on record.
“This is not even the biggest,” McElroy said of Fukumitsu’s avocados. “He would never brag, but we had one that was 7 or 8 pounds. He just brings them in a big bag for us.”
The avocados are Fukumitsu variety, registered under the family name.
Fukumitsu grows the avocados with his son Milton at their farm in Holualoa.
The heavyweights come from the same tree which has been a part of the Fukumitsu’s family farm for decades.
“We had these trees during the war, so it was 1941, ‘42,” Fukumitsu said. “The G.I.’s used to take them and eat them, and they said they were good.”
Fukumitsu and his son said they never sell the avocados; they give them out to the community for free.
And Fukumitsu’s secret to getting the tree to produce its giant avocados is simple — just let it be.
“To us, there’s nothing to it.”