MANDARIN ORCHARDS OF BODRUM
Everyone knows the turquoise color of Bodrum’s coves but not everyone knows the tangerine-colored Bodrum. However, mandarins were once the most important source of income for the farmers of the Bodrum Peninsula. Today, mandarin orchards are facing challen
Everyone know the turquoise color of its coves but not everyone knows the tangerine colored Bodrum. However, mandarins were once the most important source of income for the farmers of the Bodrum Peninsula.
Between November and February, the visitors who, after taking the turn to Bitez on the BodrumTurgutreis main road, would park their car in the village to go to the seaside, behold quite a different world than what is expected of Bodrum, known as a modern touristic center. Sunlight has difficulty reaching the narrow stream paths covered with stones from old walls; the old carob, olive, and bay trees intertwine with their leaves and branches to make green tunnels. Beyond the wall, amongst the dark green foliage, mandarins greet those who are passing by: “Hello and welcome to the mandarin orchards!” they seem to say. The trees with branches drooping down from the weight of the fruit, stretch out as far as the eye can see. What an abundance! Amongst the trees, you can find the deep and wide rimmed wells and the pools used for the irrigation of the orchards. Even though irrigation is performed with plastic pipes today, these old, stone water canals are still present.
It feels like each fruit whispers, “Pluck me and taste me.” The curious people who cannot resist the temptation this magnificent vista offers and peel a mandarin are rewarded with an even more wonderful aroma and taste -especially if they plucked an especially fragrant one! If the owner of the orchard is around, the mandarin lover is urged on with words like “Good, good! Pick whichever you want.”
Did you know that the mandarin actually originates in China?
It is believed to have arrived in Anatolia by two different routes: the seedless satsuma traveled to the shores of the Black Sea over the Caspian Sea and was first known in Turkey as the Rize mandarin. The seeded type traveled across the African continent to reach the Greek islands and then from Rhodes it came to Bodrum. However, mandarins started to be substantially produced in Bodrum only a century ago. Stretching
out to the coves of the peninsula, the abundant plains of Bitez, Müsgebi (Ortakent), Karatoprak (Turgutreis), Gümüşlük, Yalıkavak, and Gölköy are ideal for the job. It is thought that the constant breeze blowing in Bodrum adds a special flavor to the mandarins. First the seedless tangerine (satsuma) ripens, followed by the mandarin with a rind that is darker orange in color, then the clementine with fewer pips (referred to as ‘ kinin’ by the locals of Bodrum), and lastly the fragrant Bodrum mandarin, the queen of mandarins. And hence, tables do not lack mandarins from November to February.
In the olden days, one or two mandarin sprouts would be planted in the gardens for household consumption. We know that the author of “The Fisherman of Halicarnassus” put quite an emphasis on citrus production and brought all kinds of different seedlings from abroad between 1930 and 1940. He introduced the bergamot tree to Bodrum. Following WWII, mandarin agriculture became all the more common. In Istanbul, which was deprived of the vitamin-packed fruit in winter, the mandarins coming from Bodrum sold like hotcakes. Especially when the mandarins were being exported to the Eastern Bloc via the former Yugoslavia, the farmers in Bodrum had a hard time meeting demand. Well then, what happened later? When the Eastern Bloc fell, a substantial market was dissolved. Moreover, according to the modern consumer, despite its intense fragrance and delicious taste, Bodrum mandarins had an important flaw: they had at least
two or three pips in every segment! With the changes in consumer habits, the interest shown in the Bodrum mandarin devolved.
Many trees were cut down, and some of the remaining orchards are now unkempt. While the annual mandarin harvest was around 20,000-30,000 tons in the ´70s, in recent years, only 5,000 tons of mandarins are grown.
The Bodrum Chamber of Commerce has taken some significant steps while looking for a solution for the mandarin crisis. A few years ago, by introducing the “Bodrum Mandarin” soda to the market, they managed to make Bodrum mandarins a current issue once again. The Bodrum Citrus Producers Association registered the designation of origin “Bodrum mandarin” as a geographical indication.
Many innovative producers have started to produce a whole new range of products from the Bodrum mandarin: jams, marmalades,
Turkish delights, mandarin chips you can eat as snacks, or dried fruit jam. Even a delicious mandarin sorbet, one cannot get enough of, is available on the market. Also, mandarin cologne started to be produced from the essence of Bodrum mandarins.
If you happen to drop by Bodrum between December and January, you can consume the famous Bodrum mandarins in their freshest and most delicious state. If you don’t want to deal with the pips, you can press them to make juice. In any case, do not forget to drop by the mandarin orchards that are adorned like living Christmas trees!
If you happen to visit Bodrum in March or April, this time the mandarin orchards present a different enticement: even if they don’t bear fruit, the white mandarin flowers abloom emit such a sweet odor that even after you have left, the perfume is instilled in your memory.