Thomas Ferragut and Jean-François Arrat produce Yuzu lemons on their farm, Les Agrumes de l’Armagnac, near Hontanx in Landes. “I have always loved lemon trees,” says Ferragut.
“I have had them in the garden for 15 years, so when a friend mentioned Yuzu lemons, I was immediately interested, but I didn’t have any land, so I asked Jean-François if he would be interested too. It was quite an original idea because citrus fruits aren’t usually cultivated in this area. But climate change and global warming are a big part of why we can grow Yuzu lemons in the Landes. When local nurseryman Thierry Dupouy said he was growing them, we didn’t hesitate.”
The pair planted 72 Yuzu trees in 2021 and then 52 more the following year. Last year they added 20 orange trees (Navalina and Cara Cara). “We don’t use pesticides or any other chemical treatments, making our fruit naturally produced. We also make Yuzu jams and syrups, which are sold in the local farmers’ shops in this area, because it is not economically viable for us to have a shop, or to sell jams and syrups online.”
They do, however, sell their Yuzu lemons via their website. Buyers have to email for an estimate of the cost of buying anything from a single fruit to several cases or more. They send lemons all over France and Belgium.
The Yuzu harvestThomas Ferragut
Yuzu lemons are mainly grown in Japan, Korea and China, where they are said to be a hybrid of wild mandarin and Ichang lemons.
The trees are thorny, with large, heavily scented leaves, and take 10 years to come into fruit. They are hardy, very frost-resistant, and produce fruit which ripens in the autumn.
They are prized for their fragrant zest and tangy juice, although in fact they don’t contain much juice. The taste is something like a mix of lemon, mandarin, grapefruit and sometimes a hint of mint. It looks a bit like a yellow clementine. They are almost never eaten as a fruit, the zest and juice being used primarily as flavouring.
Ferragut and Arrat harvest around 1,500kg of Yuzu lemons a year, which they sell to gastronomic restaurants, and people making jams, ice cream, sweets and even artisan beer.
