Why Eureka lemon exists, how it fills the gap winter lemon varieties leave behind, and how it compares to Kütdiken and Mayer.
Lemon is one of the only fruits genuinely harvested in Turkey year-round, and the reason is a distinctive trait of the tree itself: unlike most citrus, lemon flowers more than once a year, which is why different varieties come to harvest in completely different months. That year-round rhythm has made Turkey a serious force in the category: Turkey ranks around 5th in the world in lemon exports, having shipped in the range of half a million tonnes in a recent year from a national harvest of roughly 1.3 million tonnes annually. Lemon is the one citrus product with a real presence on the August calendar — through a single variety bred specifically for that gap.
Eureka: engineered to fill the summer gap
Eureka is one of the world's most widely grown lemon varieties, and in Turkey it's planted specifically to cover the months winter lemon varieties can't reach. Its very juicy, high-acid fruit peaks from June through August, meeting fresh lemon demand through the hottest months of the year — right when watermelon, melon, and the rest of the August calendar in our August harvest guide are also at their peak.
Kütdiken: the backbone that Eureka doesn't replace
Turkey's most widely grown lemon variety, Kütdiken, is a different story entirely: it's harvested mainly through winter and spring, but its strong storability means cold-stored Kütdiken can still supply markets into early summer — overlapping with, rather than being replaced by, Eureka's own harvest. Together the two varieties are what keep Turkish lemon on export documentation in every month of the year, a claim few other fruits can make.
Mayer: the earliest lemon of the next cycle
Just as Eureka's season winds down, Mayer — a thin-skinned, low-acidity variety — opens the following cycle in late August and September, among the very first lemons of the coming autumn-winter harvest. Interdonato, of Italian origin, follows shortly after. This handoff from Eureka to Mayer is what keeps the lemon calendar from ever having a true gap, unlike almost every other Turkish citrus, which is dormant in summer.
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 roughly half a million tonnes in a recent year from a national harvest of about 1.3 million tonnes annually.
Why is Eureka lemon harvested in summer instead of winter like other citrus?
It was planted in Turkey specifically to fill the gap winter lemon varieties leave behind; lemon trees flower more than once a year, which lets different varieties be timed to different harvest windows, unlike most other citrus.
Is Turkish lemon available year-round?
Yes — Kütdiken (harvested in winter/spring, then cold-stored into early summer), Eureka (summer), and Mayer/Interdonato (early autumn) overlap to cover every month of the year.