Odd News

Tennessee man's 22.6-pound sweet potato might be a state record

By Ben Hooper   |   Nov. 4, 2019 at 1:27 PM
A Tennessee man harvested a 22.6-pound sweet potato that might be a new state record. Photo by LauraLisLT/Pixabay.com

Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A Tennessee man may have broken a state record when he harvested a sweet potato that weighed 22.6 pounds.

Neal Ryder said he was unaware the tubers came in jumbo size when he planted the sweet potatoes and other crops to make homemade baby food for his 3-month-old son, Griffin.

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Ryder said he was shocked when he picked the 22.6-pound sweet potato.

A sweet potato grown by an East Tennessee woman in 2018 was hailed as a state record, weighing nearly 14 pounds. It was unclear whether that record had since been broken.

Ryder's sweet potato might be the state's largest, but it falls short of the Guinness World Record -- an 81-pound, 9-ounce sweet potato grown in Spain in 2004.