GILBERT - A Gilbert couple's gourd has crushed a longstanding state record as the heaviest cushaw.

Johnny and Gail Cline's great gourd weighs in at 57 pounds, a full 15 pounds heavier than the record-holder.

Tom Clark, horticulture marketing specialist for the State Department of Agriculture, confirmed the cushaw breaks the previous record of 42 pounds. Clark said the record has stood for so long there isn't even a record of when it was set, nor who grew the 42-pound cushaw.

"This probably is a pretty old record," Clark said. "We went down (Monday) and cut it off the vine and put it on a certified scale and it weighed in at 57 pounds and that is a state record for a cushaw. It beat the old record pretty handily. We actually took it down to the post office and put it on a postal scale so it was a certified scale."

Gail Cline said her husband took the dried cushaw seeds and threw them out near the fence around their Stafford Branch home and God did the rest.

"We didn't do anything except throw the seeds out and God grew it," Gail Cline said. "When the Lord does something, He does it right."

Cline said she was ecstatic when she learned her cushaw was a record-breaker.

"I couldn't even talk," she said.

The cushaw is so large, it is bleeding, which means it's cracking open and leaking the juices inside due to its large size. Cline said the state officials told her it might have weighed in at a few ounces more had it not been for the bleeding.

Cline, who said she loves homegrown foods and country cooking, said she might eat the cushaw, but several of her neighbors have already stopped by asking for a taste, too.

"I love cushaw. It tastes a little bit like a sweet potato," Cline said smiling. "We'll probably eat it and save the seeds to try to grow us a bigger one next year."