The crunchiest apple in the world has been found, and it was grown in Hawke's Bay.
The record-setting apple, a SweeTango, was grown by The Yummy Fruit Company based in Havelock North.
New Zealand reality show The Bachelor's star Art Green crunched his way into the record books at an official Guinness world-record event in Auckland last week.
With an outstanding 79.1db, measured by a certified sound engineer on a Bruel & Kjaer 2250 sound level meter, Green crunched his way to the top.
The minimum requirement to set a new Guinness world record title for the loudest crunch of an apple was 75db.
This is just a few decibels less than the sound of a doorbell at 80db or a mixer with 85db.
Green had fresh apples delivered to his doorstep almost on a daily basis in preparation for the world-record attempt.
"I've been trying all sorts of techniques. It all comes down to the fruit and the size of a bite.
"It was a challenge to find out if smaller apples crunch louder than larger and what difference their temperature makes."
He said this was apple science at its best.
He concluded that a chilled, medium-size SweeTango apple gave the loudest crunch.
More than 10 years ago, The Yummy Fruit Company discovered the huge success of the SweeTango in the US and are now the exclusive growers in New Zealand. They have 150,000 SweeTango apple trees in the ground.
The Yummy Fruit Company general manager Paul Paynter said there had been earlier, non-official, scientific attempts to measure the crunch of an apple.
"However, these were not attempted by a human being and certainly not in an official soundproof environment."
He said the record confirms what he has always known.
"In a world of soft, mushy apples or hard impenetrable apples, SweeTango really stands out."
He said SweeTango are crunchy because they have huge angular cells that fracture freakishly.
"Art's also got decent-sized chompers, which seems to be an advantage.
"Some apple cells become soft and round and you're teeth just seem to slide past them, like a knife through ball bearings."
He said that's what happens when you eat a mealy apple and everyone knows exactly what that experience is like.
"SweeTango also have huge cells, roughly twice the size of a normal apple, which means there is more juice and a light, ethereal eating experience."