The world's largest potato that was too big and required DNA testing turned out to be 'not a potato'

It turned out that the world's largest potato, which was required to have a DNA test when applying for Guinness World Records, was 'not a potato' because of its huge size.

Oh gourd, monster'potato' not actually a spud | Stuff.co.nz
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/garden/300540474/oh-gourd-monster-potato-not-actually-a-spud

Giant New Zealand potato is not in fact a potato, Guinness World Records rules | New Zealand | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/16/giant-new-zealand-potato-is-not-in-fact-a-potato-guinness-world-records-rules

'World's heaviest potato' turns out not to be a potato at all --UPI.com
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/03/15/nz-Guinness-World-Records-Dug-the-Spud-not-a-potato/4571647364617/

The potatoes, which had been making a big noise when breaking the world record, were harvested by New Zealand's Colin Craig-Brown and Donna Brown in August 2021. The world's largest potato record so far was a 4.99 kg individual harvested in Nottinghamshire, England, but the Browns harvested an individual of '7.9 kg', which is about 1.6 times larger. Not only the size but also the shape is characteristic, and Mr. and Mrs. Brown named it 'Dag' and loved it.

New Zealand couple dig up'Doug', potentially the world's heaviest potato --YouTube


However, when Mr. and Mrs. Brown tried to apply for Doug's Guinness World Records, an incident occurred in which the Guinness Certification Committee requested a 'DNA test' due to its appearance and size. In the flow of extracting Doug's DNA and conducting an appraisal at Science & Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), a scientific research institute under the Scottish Government's Bureau of Agriculture and Rural Economy, which stores more than 2000 types of potato DNA data. became.

You can read more about Doug's episodes in the following articles:

The world's largest potato weighing 7.9 kg is born, it is too big and will be DNA tested --GIGAZINE

As a result of the inspection conducted in this way, Doug was found to be a 'tuber of a Cucurbitaceae plant'. It became clear that the classification is different from that of potatoes belonging to the Solanaceae family.

In response to this result, Mr. Colin speculates that the reason why Doug tasted potatoes is that 'the seedlings in which Doug grew may be a hybrid of Solanaceae plants and cucumbers.' Mr. Colin replied that he was disappointed in the interview, but he said, 'I was really motivated to work on potato cultivation. Together with the experts, I would like to share the knowledge and scientific know-how that I have accumulated so far. I want to do my best to make the world's largest potatoes. '

It is said that Doug is still in the refrigerator, but Colin says, 'I will try to use it as a material for making vodka.'