Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK. 18th Sept, 2015. Harrogate Annual Autumn Flower Show, attractions include the giant vegetable competition, and is ranked as one of Britain's top three gardening events. Gigantomo tomatoes can only be bought from Lincolnshire seed seller Van Meuwen, Read more: company has even stumped up a £5,000 jackpot for anyone who can grow a Gigantomo tomato that breaks the world record of 7lbs 12oz. Credit: Cernan Elias/Alamy Live News
A flower show is using DNA technology to ensure a £1,000 giant tomato prize is not won by a cheating grower. Organisers of the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show have responded to competitors’ concerns that an unscrupulous gardener might sneak in a rogue variety of tomato to the championship. The show is running a Gigantomo class, with a £1,000 top prize sponsored by a mail order plant specialist, which means entries must be from that strain of the plant. So organisers will use Dutch specialists to DNA test plants to make sure the entries are what they claim to be. The winner could scoop a further £5,000 if the heaviest fruit sets a new world record. The new class for Gigantomo tomatoes, a beefsteak variety developed for its huge red fruits, was launched in January with the final weigh-in on Friday. It took the best part of 20 years to come to fruition. But plant breeders have finally launched a collection of super-sized tomatoes that can feed an entire family. The new tomato plants, called Gigantomo, can grow enormous fruits up to 10 inches wide and as heavy as 3lbs - about 12 times the size of an average salad tomato. The revolutionary tomatoes have now gone on sale in Britain just in time for gardeners to buy them before spring arrives. The tomatoes are so large that one tomato alone can serve up to four people, and just one slice fills an entire burger bun or sandwich.
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Location: Harrogate, United Kingdom
Photo credit: © EnVogue_Photo / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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