The first organic Meyer lemons from Turkey will arrive in week 41 at Eosta. "We have been working with a supplier for around eight years, who grows this fruit on a reasonably large scale," says Pieter de Keijzer, who characterises the Meyer lemon as the sweetest lemon in the world. "There was some 'mandarin blood' in this lemon, which has a very thin peel and of which the juice level is considerable higher."
The Meyer lemons are a real hit in the United States, but are still relatively unknown in Europe. Tesco did introduce Meyer lemons from California to the shelves two years ago. "I haven't heard of any other Dutch importers offering them yet. We sold them as just lemons for years, but there is a good story behind them and we want to expand on that this year and market the product as a speciality," says Pieter.
The fruit comes from China and was discovered by Frank Meyer, an American ministry of Agriculture employee, who explored the country at the start of the last century. Frank Nicholas Meyer was born in Amsterdam (1875) and emigrated to the United States in 1901 and worked for the American ministry of agriculture and travelled to China and found this lemon. Meyer imported the fruit to America in 1908 and it became a popular culinary accessory, used in cakes and cocktails. Its thin peel means that the fruit can be eaten whole - peel, core and flesh.
"The sales of the organic Meyer lemons was mainly focussed on the natural food market in recent years. German organic supermarkets also enjoy them and in recent years the sales towards retail have also started to get going. It is a unique product to communicate about for supermarkets. Nature and More will also support customers with sales material such as posters, recipes and other point of sale materials so that the consumer also knows what they are being. We expect stable volumes and that the lemons are scarce is an advantage," concludes Pieter. "The Meyer lemon has it in it to become a bigger product."
