From the oasis bounty

Seasonal Fruits of Al-Ahsa

In the world's largest natural palm oasis, the seasons take turns over the groves, offering visitors a new fruit and flavour with each one — from golden summer rutab to winter kanar and the oasis's famous lime.

2.5M

palm trees in the oasis

85.4 km²

area the oasis spans

280 wells

artesian wells watering the groves

400K

fruit trees alongside the palms

Per the Guinness World Records listing (October 2020) and Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture statistics.

The oasis food basket

An oasis in Guinness and UNESCO

In October 2020, Al-Ahsa Oasis entered Guinness World Records as the largest self-contained oasis in the world: two and a half million palm trees fed by a vast aquifer through 280 artesian wells, over an area exceeding 85.4 square kilometres. Before that, in 2018, the oasis was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List as the fifth Saudi site to join it.

Alongside the palms, the oasis is home to some 400,000 fruit trees producing around 13,000 tonnes a year across more than 25,000 agricultural holdings, according to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture. This page tours the oasis's most notable fruits, season by season: when they ripen and what makes each one special.

Rutab season

The early-harvest calendar: from first rutab to last picking

Al-Ahsa is the first agricultural region in Saudi Arabia to begin the rutab (fresh date) harvest each season; the first fresh dates are known locally as the "bawakir", and the harvest season is called the "siram". According to the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture calendar for the 2025 rutab season, the varieties follow one another as below:

Tayyar

May 20–30

Mignaz

May 25–30

Ghar

June 1–10

Khneizi

June 15–20

Shishi

June 25–30

Khalas

July 10–20

Umm Rahim, Zamli & Hilali

July – mid-August

The rutab season runs from late May to mid-August, then turns into the full-date season until early October; dates shift slightly from one season to the next with the weather. Harvest seasons are overseen by the National Center for Palms & Dates in partnership with Al-Ahsa Municipality and the Al-Ahsa Development Authority.

A tour of the fruits

A fruit for every season

Pick the season of your visit to see its fruits:

Dates — crown of the oasis

Dates are Al-Ahsa's foremost crop; official reports place annual production between roughly 100,000 and 120,000 tonnes, while the Saudi Press Agency (October 2024) reported more than 200,000 tonnes. The oasis holds one of the world's largest palm gene banks: in 2021 the Palms and Dates Center in Al-Ahsa set a Guinness record with more than 127 national and international cultivars. Some sources suggest that Khalas, Shishi and Razeez together account for about three-quarters of production.

Dates

Khalas

Rutab: mid-July – late August • Full dates: c. 15–25 September

The icon of Al-Ahsa dates and its most famous variety, the top seller, making up 15–20% of the oasis's palms. The fruit is oval and medium-sized with little fibre, golden to amber in colour, soft in texture, with a balanced, aromatic sweetness. It keeps its flavour even after long storage, is traditionally served with Arabic coffee as a symbol of generosity and hospitality, and is rich in minerals such as zinc, manganese and selenium.

Dates

Shishi

Rutab: late June • Full dates: mid–late August

Al-Ahsa's second most famous variety, the most sought-after after Khalas. Large fruit with a relatively soft, thick texture, mostly brown with a golden-yellow base, and intensely sweet. It keeps for a long time without spoiling, making it well suited to storing and freezing for year-round eating, and it goes into dibs (date molasses) and other date products.

Razeez

Dates

Razeez

Full dates: late season, around early October

One of the oldest and most storied dates of Al-Ahsa, described as among the finest and most nutritious varieties. It is the base of "sifsif" — a famous winter sweet of Razeez dates with date molasses, sesame, fennel and ginger, served in guest majlises — as well as of molasses itself. It has become relatively rare today, as most farmers have turned to growing Khalas.

Barhi

Dates

Barhi

Rutab: in summer

One of the most celebrated rutab varieties in Al-Ahsa and the Arab world; originally from Iraq, it reached Al-Ahsa and Qassim in the late nineteenth century. Exceptionally sweet and soft, and free of astringent bitterness even at the yellow balah (bisr) stage, so it is eaten at all three stages — balah, rutab and full date — turning from green to yellow to amber as it ripens.

Bowls of assorted rutab: Ghar, Khneizi and Shahl

Dates

Bawakir — early & local varieties

Rutab & dates: late May to October

Beyond the major varieties, the oasis abounds in dozens of local ones that open or close the season: Tayyar, Mignaz and Ghar lead the early harvest, followed by Khneizi, Shishi and Khalas, while late rutab such as Umm Rahim, Zamli and Hilali run to mid-August — joined by Shubaibi, Shahl, Wusaili, Hatimi, Kasbi and more.

Citrus

Citrus

Hasawi Lime (Bin Zuhairi)

Summer: from mid-June

Al-Ahsa's second crop after dates. A small, dark-green, thin-skinned fruit bursting with juice, sharply tart with a piercing fragrance that sets it apart from all other citrus. More than 100,000 bearing lime trees spread across the oasis; a single tree yields 25–30 kg a season, and it sells for SAR 15–20 per kilo. A cherished Hasawi summer custom surrounds it: families gather to press and preserve it ("jameed", or sun-dried lime) for use all year. The governorate celebrates it annually at the Hasawi Lime Exhibition, organised by the Al-Ahsa Chamber in partnership with the Al-Ahsa Development Authority.

Summer fruits

Summer fruits

Hasawi Yellow Melon

Summer: from around late May

A farming and cultural heirloom handed down through generations; a local strain shaped by selective cultivation and the keeping of superior seed, which gave it its distinctive yellow flesh and its tolerance of Al-Ahsa's heat and scarce water. Sweet and aromatic, rich in water, fibre, vitamin C, potassium and carotenoids, and low in calories — a natural summer hydrator.

Summer fruits

Hasawi Fig

Summer

A beloved summer fruit; Al-Ahsa's most famous type is a pale lemony green, each fig about a single bite. Sugary and tender, it stands out for not spoiling quickly, unlike many figs. It is usually planted scattered through the palm groves beside lime and pomegranate rather than in dedicated orchards, so no precise tree count exists. Some farmers preserve it dried; it is a blessed fruit mentioned in the Holy Qur'an.

Summer fruits

Bambar

Summer: around July–August

A heritage fruit adored by the older generation, known scientifically as Cordia myxa and also called sebestan, mkheit and hambu. The small oval fruit turns from green to yellow or brown as it ripens; its taste is sweet and its pulp so sticky it is proverbial. Eaten fresh, and used traditionally in folk remedies for the digestion.

Summer fruits

Hasawi Grapes

Summer: from early summer

A small local seeded grape, prized for its flavour despite its size, grown in red and green varieties. Its harvest opens with the summer season alongside lime, figs and rutab. Yet according to farmers and vendors quoted in the local press, production has fallen sharply and the variety is threatened with extinction by water scarcity and shrinking farmland.

Suwari pomegranates with a cut half of glistening red seeds

Summer fruits

Suwari Pomegranate Nearly extinct

A venerable local fruit; its largest specimens are called "Suwari". So intensely sweet that it splits from ripeness, and vivid in colour. Once planted densely across the oasis beside figs and lime, its production — like several of Al-Ahsa's traditional fruits — has declined so far that it is nearly extinct from the groves, and finding it today is rare.

Spring & winter fruits

A pile of red and black Hasawi mulberries

Spring fruits

Hasawi Mulberry

Spring: around April — a season of barely a month

A short-season spring fruit that arrives as the last cold spells fade, with small, near-round berries in red, black and blue — red and black predominate on Al-Ahsa's farms. Demand runs high precisely because the season is so short. Eaten fresh and used in sweets, ice creams, juices and jams, and frozen once the season ends; its cultivation is considered one of the oasis's promising crops.

Winter fruits

Kanar (Nabk)

Winter: from around January to late March

A time-honoured winter fruit borne by the sidr tree mentioned in the Holy Qur'an. The oasis remains its fertile home, and it comes in several types: "Tuffahi" (apple-sized), "Umm Sulaim" (small and stoneless) and "Sini" (large and green), along with pear-like and Indian types. Sweet and especially loved by children, it does not keep long, and buying it in the souqs comes with folk chants of its own.

More fruits from the groves

A papaya and a cut half showing the orange flesh

Other fruits

Papaya Pending confirmation

Season pending documentation

A tropical fruit with sweet orange flesh. Details of its cultivation and seasons in Al-Ahsa have not yet been documented from official sources.

Green wrinkle-skinned atranj (citron) fruits

Other fruits

Atranj (Citron) Pending confirmation

Season pending documentation

An ancient citrus with large, fragrant fruit and a thick, wrinkled rind. Details of its cultivation and seasons in Al-Ahsa have not yet been documented from official sources.

About the accuracy of this page

This page draws on trusted official and agricultural sources, and we take care to verify every fact before publishing it. Anything we could not confirm is explicitly marked "Pending confirmation" rather than stated as fact.

Ripening dates shift slightly from season to season with the weather; this information was reviewed in July 2026.