A falafel ball weighing nearly 53 pounds created at a Jewish food festival in California has been certified as the world’s largest.

Dawn Walker weighs a huge falafel ball at the Santa Clarita Valley Jewish Food Festival. To the left sits a normal-size falafel ball. photo/adrienne földes

The falafel ball was certified on May 15 for submission to the Guinness Book of World Records at the Santa Clarita Valley Jewish Food and Cultural Festival, the Los Angeles Daily News reported. The ball, made of ground chickpeas and fava beans, weighed 52.8 pounds and measured 12.5 inches high.

The previous Guinness record falafel ball, created by an Israeli chef in New York, was 24 pounds.

Health regulations prevented food festival attendees from tasting the record-setting falafel ball. The third annual festival was held at the College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, near Magic Mountain amusement park. — jta

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