Which months Turkey's documented lemon varieties actually come to harvest, how far Kütdiken's storage extends supply, and which month genuinely stays thin.
Lemon is one of the few fruits genuinely harvested in Turkey nearly year-round — but the reason is not a separate "summer variety," as is sometimes assumed, but the way real Turkish lemon varieties' harvest windows run one after another, and above all the storability of Kütdiken. According to the official variety inventory kept by the Alata Research Institute of Horticulture, under Turkey's Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, the main lemon varieties grown in Turkey are Kütdiken, Interdonato, Lamas, and Mayer — each coming to harvest in a different month; our supply also includes Eureka, harvested through autumn and winter. This rhythm has made Turkey a serious force in the category: Turkey ranks around 5th in the world in lemon exports, shipping about 578,000 tonnes in 2024 (EİB) from a national harvest of well over a million tonnes.
Harvest in sequence: August through March
The real harvest calendar opens in the second half of August with Mayer, thin-skinned and low in acidity, among the season's first lemons. Italian-origin Interdonato takes over at the end of September — Turkey is one of the main growers and exporters of this variety. Lamas opens the winter harvest in early November; Kütdiken, also starting in November, is harvested into February and is both the most widely grown and the most widely stored variety in the country. Eureka, starting around October-November, continues through winter into March.
Kütdiken's contribution: supply extended into spring and early summer by storage
Kütdiken's role in the lemon calendar is not limited to its harvest window. The variety can be kept in cold storage for up to 9-12 months, which lets fruit picked by February reach markets through spring and into early summer while largely retaining its fresh quality.
Where the calendar genuinely stays thin: July
This chain has an honest limit: while Kütdiken's storage life typically extends supply into early summer, July is a comparatively thin month for fresh Turkish lemon, ahead of Mayer's mid-August start — none of the other varieties, Eureka included, reach into July, since Eureka's own harvest window is likewise limited to autumn and winter. Our variety-by-variety harvest calendar on the product page shows this overlap and gap month by month.
Caliber and packaging
Regardless of variety, export lemon is graded into Extra Class, Class I, and Class II under the international citrus marketing standard, then sized by a numeric size code running from 0 (79-90 mm) down to 7 (45-52 mm). Standard shipment is a 40×30×18 cm carton at 10 kg net, 100 boxes to a 100×120 cm pallet, with 0.5-1 kg retail nets available shelf-ready on request.
You can visit our Lemon product page for full variety, caliber, and packaging detail, and see our citrus variety guide for how lemon compares to orange, mandarin, and grapefruit varieties.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Turkey rank among the world's lemon exporters?
Turkey ranks around 5th in the world in lemon exports, shipping about 578,000 tonnes in 2024 (EİB) from a national harvest of well over a million tonnes.
Why can lemon be harvested in Turkey almost year-round?
Lemon trees flower more than once a year, so varieties such as Mayer, Interdonato, Lamas, Eureka, and Kütdiken come to harvest one after another from late August through March. Kütdiken's long storage life then extends that supply through spring and into early summer.
Is Turkish lemon available year-round?
Almost — the harvest windows of Mayer, Interdonato, Lamas, Eureka, and Kütdiken overlap from August through March, and Kütdiken's storability extends supply into early summer. July is the one month that stays comparatively thin for fresh Turkish lemon.
