Giant arancina in Palermo smashes 2023 record from Messina.A new world record was set on the Italian island of Sicily on Sunday when an arancina rice ball weighing a staggering 62.3 kilograms was created on Palermo's Mondello beach.For those unfamiliar with Sicilian street food, the arancina (known in eastern Sicily as the arancino) is one of the island's most iconic foods. Origins Arancini, or arancine, are Italian rice balls that are stuffed, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The most common fillings are meat ragù with peas and mozzarella, or a version with prosciutto and béchamel sauce. The name means "little orange" in Sicilian - a reference to the golden, round shape the fried ball takes on after cooking. In Palermo and western Sicily, the word takes the feminine form, arancina; in Catania and the east it is masculine, arancino - a distinction that has been debated with great passion for centuries without resolution. The ingredients used to create arancini were first brought to Sicily during the Arab occupation of the island in the 10th century, when rice and saffron were introduced. Later, during the Norman occupation of the 12th century, these ingredients were combined, breaded and fried to make a portable snack for long journeys and hunting trips, giving form to the first arancini. New record This week's record-breaking creation at Mondello was the work of pastry chefs and gastronomes Vincenzo Fiore and Giuseppe Genovese of the Bar Igea Lea in Palermo. The feat broke the previous record, which had been held since 2023 by a rosticceria in Messina that produced an arancino weighing 56.2 kilograms. The Palermo specimen tipped the scales at 62.3 kilograms and measured 50 centimetres in diameter with a circumference of 1 metre 57 centimetres. Fiore noted that the team had remarkably little preparation time, having returned from the Vinitaly wine fair - which ended in Verona on 16 April - just days before the event, leaving only three days to complete their goal.  300 litres of oil The filling followed a classic Palermo recipe: Roma Gallo and Roma Blond rice varieties combined with minced veal, peas and a small amount of tomato paste. One of the main technical challenges was maintaining the structural integrity of the arancina during frying in an oversized deep fryer, a task that required 300 litres of cooking oil. The event was organised by Carmelo Comandè and Roberto Bruno of Sikania Eventi ETS as part of a three-day festival at Mondello, with the aim of achieving an official Guinness World Record.

A new world record was set on the Italian island of Sicily on Sunday when an arancina rice ball weighing a staggering 62.3 kilograms was created on Palermo's Mondello beach. For those unfamiliar with Sicilian street food, the arancina (known in eastern Sicily as the arancino) is one of the island's most iconic foods. Arancini, or arancine, are Italian rice balls that are stuffed, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The most common fillings are meat ragù with peas and mozzarella, or a version with prosciutto and béchamel sauce. The name means "little orange" in Sicilian - a reference to the golden, round shape the fried ball takes on after cooking. In Palermo and western Sicily, the word takes the feminine form, arancina; in Catania and the east it is masculine, arancino - a distinction that has been debated with great passion for centuries without resolution. The ingredients used to create arancini were first brought to Sicily during the Arab occupation of the island in the 10th century, when rice and saffron were introduced. Later, during the Norman occupation of the 12th century, these ingredients were combined, breaded and fried to make a portable snack for long journeys and hunting trips, giving form to the first arancini. This week's record-breaking creation at Mondello was the work of pastry chefs and gastronomes Vincenzo Fiore and Giuseppe Genovese of the Bar Igea Lea in Palermo. The feat broke the previous record, which had been held since 2023 by a rosticceria in Messina that produced an arancino weighing 56.2 kilograms. The Palermo specimen tipped the scales at 62.3 kilograms and measured 50 centimetres in diameter with a circumference of 1 metre 57 centimetres. Fiore noted that the team had remarkably little preparation time, having returned from the  - which ended in Verona on 16 April - just days before the event, leaving only three days to complete their goal.  The filling followed a classic Palermo recipe: Roma Gallo and Roma Blond rice varieties combined with minced veal, peas and a small amount of tomato paste. One of the main technical challenges was maintaining the structural integrity of the arancina during frying in an oversized deep fryer, a task that required 300 litres of cooking oil. The event was organised by Carmelo Comandè and Roberto Bruno of Sikania Eventi ETS as part of a three-day festival at Mondello, with the aim of achieving an official Guinness World Record.