From the oasis bounty

Seasonal Fruits of Al-Ahsa

In the world’s largest 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

400K

fruit trees alongside the palms

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

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.

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 and sesame, served in guest majalis — as well as of molasses itself. It has become relatively rare today, as most farmers have turned to growing Khalas.

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: mid-June to the end of August

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. A cherished Hasawi summer custom surrounds it: families gather to press and preserve it (“jameed”: lime juice sun-dried and aged) for use all year. The governorate celebrates it annually at the Hasawi Lomi Exhibition, organised by the Al-Ahsa Chamber in partnership with the Al-Ahsa Development Authority.

Citrus

Atranj (Citron)

Winter: from January to early March

An ancient citrus with large, fragrant fruit and a thick, wrinkled rind.

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 colour 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

Hasawi 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 digestive system.

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

Hasawi Pomegranate (Suwari) 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.

Summer fruits

Papaya

Summer: from June to August

A tropical fruit with sweet orange flesh, ripening in the oasis’s groves in summer.

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

Hasawi 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.

Oasis fruit seasons — as on the fruit cards
Fruit	Season	Group
Khalas	Rutab: mid-July – late August • Full dates: c. 15–25 September	Dates — crown of the oasis
Shishi	Rutab: late June • Full dates: mid–late August	Dates — crown of the oasis
Razeez	Full dates: late season, around early October	Dates — crown of the oasis
Barhi	Rutab: in summer	Dates — crown of the oasis
Bawakir — early & local varieties	Rutab & dates: late May to October	Dates — crown of the oasis
Hasawi Lime (Bin Zuhairi)	Summer: mid-June to the end of August	Citrus
Atranj (Citron)	Winter: from January to early March	Citrus
Hasawi Yellow Melon	Summer: from around late May	Summer fruits
Hasawi Fig	Summer	Summer fruits
Hasawi Bambar	Summer: around July–August	Summer fruits
Hasawi Grapes	Summer: from early summer	Summer fruits
Papaya	Summer: from June to August	Summer fruits
Hasawi Mulberry	Spring: around April — a season of barely a month	Spring & winter fruits
Hasawi Kanar (Nabk)	Winter: from around January to late March	Spring & winter fruits

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.

Ripening dates shift slightly from season to season with the weather.