The World's Largest Fruits

2017-10-06 · list · Hank · 4:00 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature · mode: Curiosity & trivia

Asked by a stressed John for a video about joyful humans, Hank shows how selective breeding turned wild plants into crops and tours record-breaking giant fruits and vegetables and their happy growers, ending with the 2,600-pound record pumpkin, the coming weigh-offs and a reassurance that John's book is great.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Why this video: John is stressed and asked for humans being joyful and amazing

★★ Unsure what to make, Hank called John, who said he is really stressed, maybe a little sad, and just wants a video about humans being joyful and amazing. (hedged) — 00:00:00 · John Green

00:00:17 — Selective breeding: wild carrot, banana and the grass that became corn; giant produce grown for fun

★★ Humans have selectively bred plants since agriculture began, producing some fantastic transformations. — 00:00:17
★★ Hank's favourite transformation: a spindly grass seed was useful enough to be bred again and again until it became corn. (playful, hedged) — 00:00:33
★★ Humans remain so good at breeding that they now do it for fun, growing ludicrously large produce; Hank likes it and loves seeing how happy the growers are. — 00:00:42

00:00:53 — Record apple, potato, sweet potato, cabbage, carrot, pineapple, onion, tomato and lemon

★★ Surprisingly small records: the largest apple ever weighed only four pounds and the largest potato only eight. — 00:00:55
★★ Lebanese farmer Khalil Semhat grew a 25-pound sweet potato. — 00:01:03
★★ In 1998 Alaskan farmer and mechanical engineer John Evans grew the largest cabbage ever, over 76 pounds. — 00:01:10
★★ Evans also held the largest-carrot record until this year (2017), when Minnesotan Chris Qualley took it with a 22-pound carrot. — 00:01:17
★ Christine McCallum grew the world's largest pineapple. — 00:01:34
★★ Trees and bushes often have structural trouble growing giant fruit, which is why the world's largest tomato is held up by pantyhose. — 00:01:52
★★ A lemon variety, the nine-pound lemon tree, grows nine-pound lemons or more; a few grow at Epcot in Orlando, where Hank thinks the 15-pound record lemon was harvested. (hedged) — 00:01:59

00:02:15 — Gourds: the record watermelon and the 2,600-pound record pumpkin; giant pumpkin festivals

★★ Melons, squashes and cucumbers are gourds, which grow very big: Chris Kent's record watermelon, grown in Tennessee, weighed over 350 pounds. — 00:02:21
★★ The pumpkin is the biggest fruit or vegetable, so whoever grows the largest pumpkin has grown the largest fruit. — 00:02:39
★★ Hank learned while researching that there are giant pumpkin festivals all over the world. — 00:02:46
★★★ In 2016 the record was beaten by over 300 pounds: Mathias Willemijns of Belgium grew a 2,600-pound pumpkin. — 00:02:52
★★ The festivals fall around October 10, an important day for other reasons, so the 2017 record is undecided; the World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off is this Sunday (8 October 2017). — 00:03:10

00:03:19 — The weigh-off will absorb all anxiety; reassurance for John; NYC on Sunday; pumpkin canoes

★★ Hank tells John to be at peace: he will be fine, his book is great and people will love it. — 00:03:34 · John Green, Turtles All the Way Down
★★ Hank will see John on Sunday, when he flies to New York City on the day of the European Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. — 00:03:38 · New York City
★ Giant pumpkins can be turned into canoes, and there is a pumpkin canoe race. — 00:03:52

In the description and comments

★★ The description says it is wonderful to benefit from the work of thousands of generations, from today's food workers to those who began creating our crop varieties tens of thousands of years ago. (hedged) — video description

Humor (significant)

After a spindly grass seed is bred and bred and bred, Hank reveals what it became — 00:00:33

“until finally we got frickin' corn!”
Hank shows record onion grower Peter Glazebrook cradling his giant onion — 00:01:43

“here's Peter Glazebrook holding his world's largest onion like a baby”
Hank says the gourds beat all the other produce by a lot — 00:02:15

“Not the band”
Hank claims the pumpkin weigh-off will take over all his anxiety, implicitly for John's release week — 00:03:19

“Nothing else is gonna stress me out.”

Mentioned

Central: pumpkin · selective breeding

Also: People: Chris Kent · Chris Qualley · Christine McCallum · John Evans · Khalil Semhat · Mathias Willemijns · Peter Glazebrook · Tim Saint

Works: Turtles All the Way Down

Groups: The Gourds (“Not the band”)

Concepts: maize · potato (concept)

Places: Alaska · Belgium · Epcot · Lebanon · Minnesota · New York City · Orlando, Florida · Tennessee

Events: European Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off · World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off

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