Showcase a Diverse Range of New Zealand Citrus Right Through to Christmas

The citrus season is now well underway throughout the country with a huge range of brightly coloured tangy fruit in steady supply from now until December.

Citrus New Zealand Chairman, Wayne Hall says the 2023 crop is set to be a good one.

“While damage was sustained on citrus orchards this year following Cyclone Hale and Gabrielle, our growers have worked hard to ensure the crop is available and tasting great. A big shout-out to the citrus growers in Northland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Tairāwhiti and Hawkes Bay.”

The easy-peeling Satsuma mandarin harvest started in April and this lunchbox favourite makes up about 25 percent of the country’s overall citrus production of about 31,000 tonnes.

“An industry character once said –‘everybody loves an easy-peeler’, and they couldn’t have been more correct, Satsumas are in high demand right through winter as an on-the-go healthy snack,” said Hall.

Limes are another of the first fruits of the citrus season, available since the start of autumn with supplies lasting through to the end of June. The main variety grown here is the Tahitian (Bearss) lime with smaller quantities of Mexican (Key) also produced. Imported varieties will be available outside of the New Zealand citrus season.

Picking of our lemon and early Navel orange crops began in May with good supplies forming the mainstay of winter fruit displays this month. New Zealand grows a relatively unique type of lemon, the Meyer cultivar, which is common both here and in the United States, but rare elsewhere.

“The Meyer is the deeper yellow-coloured, rounder lemon that you’ll find on the shelves. It looks like this because it is a natural cross of a lemon and a mandarin/ pomelo hybrid. Amazing flavour and available in the middle of winter,” added Hall.

The firmer and lighter coloured Yen Ben variety are also available, they have a sharper flavour profile to the Meyer.

Citrus New Zealand runs a specific seasonal programme to monitor the quality of our locally grown Navel oranges supplied to Countdown and Foodstuffs. This monitoring measures Navel orange quality against the Citrus NZ BrimA (Brix/ Acid) quality standard. Brix is a measure of natural sweetness and the Brix/Acid ratio is an objective measure that reflects consumer acceptability.

“Consumer acceptability during the 2022 season reached 99 percent which is great for lovers of our fantastic NZ grown Navel oranges and bodes well for another superb season in 2023,” said Hall.

As winter weather eases and spring begins, growers will be picking grapefruit, tangelos and Afourer mandarins.

“The Afourer variety of mandarin arrive in September as Satsuma volumes begin to taper off. They’re a deeper orange colour to Satsumas with a sweeter taste. This seedless variety are supplied right through to December,” says Hall.

The 2023 Grapefruit crop is grown on just a handful of around 20 orchards. The annual harvest of around 370 tonnes will be available from June through to October.

“While grapefruit are tarter than their other citrus cousins, they’re still a popular breakfast choice for a core group of customers and a steady quantity of fruit should be kept in stock,” said Hall.

“Tangelos are another smaller crop to look out for in spring. They’re a mandarin/ grapefruit hybrid which will provide your customers with a fresh flavour profile and another great source of Vitamin C.” n