The Mandarin Groves of Bitez: the Fragrant Mandarin, the Green Harvest and the December Festival
The back lanes of Bitez still run between mandarin groves. When, where and how to get to know the Bodrum mandarin, a protected designation of origin.
BALIKÇI İSMET · BİTEZ · PUBLISHED: 26 OCTOBER 2026 · 7 MIN READ
Why Bitez smells of mandarins
One of the things that sets Bitez apart from the rest of Bodrum is the groves between the village and the sea. Walk these lanes in December and you smell the fruit before you see it. That is why the Bodrum mandarin is also known locally as the “fragrant mandarin”.
The fruit has been a registered geographical indication since 2009. According to the Turkish Patent record it is protected as the “Bodrum Mandarini” designation of origin and grows on the peninsula in Ortakent-Yahşi, Bitez, Gümüşlük, Turgutreis, Gündoğan, Konacık and Göltürkbükü and their villages. The registration was published in the Official Gazette on 11 December 2011.
According to Bodrum Municipality’s mandarin booklet, the seeds were brought from the eastern Aegean islands and Palestine in the early 20th century. The booklet calls these groves “a legacy from our fathers and grandfathers”.
Knowing the fruit
The Bodrum mandarin is small to medium and flattened, with grooves around the stem. Its thin, slightly rough skin peels easily, and it owes its scent to the essential oils in the peel. According to the registration document a fruit holds about 19 seeds on average.
The trees flower in April–May. The fruit reaches full size in November, starts to change colour and is fully ripe after 15 December. The harvest runs until the end of February.
The fruit has a weakness. Once ripe it quickly turns puffy, loses its juice and does not stay long on the branch. It does not travel or store well: according to the registration document picked fruit keeps for 10 days in normal conditions and 21 days in cold storage. So the best Bodrum mandarins are eaten on the peninsula, close to their grove.
The green harvest in August
The Bodrum mandarin is not only eaten ripe. According to the municipality’s booklet, the green fruit, which reaches 40–50 grams towards the end of August, is used in pastry, ice cream, cocktails and salads in place of imported lime and kumquat. For summer visitors who think they have missed mandarin season, this first scent of the fruit is a consolation.
The ripe fruit goes into jam, marmalade, Turkish delight, candied peel, vinegar and cologne. Mandarin soda is popular in the region, and the essential oil is also used in soap.
The December festival
For years Bodrum has held mandarin festivals between the end of December and the start of January. The municipality’s booklet describes how the old trade is re-enacted, with mandarins packed into crates and loaded onto boats. In recent years the Bodrum Mandarin Festival has been held in Bitez, organised by Bodrum Municipality, the Bodrum Mandalin Hareketi movement and the Bitez neighbourhood office. Dates change every year, so check the municipality’s announcement before you go.
The groves are shrinking
The harvest is falling. According to December 2025 reports, the peninsula’s harvest was 3,500 tonnes in 2022, fell to 3,000 tonnes and dropped below that again in 2025. The same reports say groves are being uprooted for housing estates and hotels, and that August heat has cut yields. The price gap is striking too: mandarins selling for 15–20 lira a kilo at the grove reached up to 100 lira at the greengrocer’s.
Buying straight from the growers is the most concrete help these groves can get. Please do not walk into the groves uninvited or pick fruit from the trees. Every one of them is somebody’s livelihood.