Esrogim from Morocco was imported into Eretz Yisrael this year for a first time according to esrog merchants. 1,500 of the esrogim were imported and many view them as the original esrog.
Members of the Jewish community with roots to Spain are particularly interested in obtaining these esrogim and it was this community that approached Ministry of Agriculture officials seeking a permit to import them.
Agriculture inspectors traveled to the orchard for inspection and the esrogim were cleared for import by various state agencies, arriving in Israel in three shipments.
There is about 1,500 dunams (375 acres) of esrog orchards in Israel which yield approximately 1 million esrogim annually. Of that number, about 300,000 are exported to 30 countries including European nations, United States, and Australia.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
The original esrog, as all other citrus was from China.
And for an esrog to be original, it has to conform to the bits test. If you take a bite and can find it palatable, it passes the standard from the Mishna Succah 45a. Fully grown Teimani passes the test, Morrocan may be a close second.
Now we need an advertisement telling us where we can get them…
They are probably of a higher quality and a fraction of the price of the esrogim from Calabria Italy which are sold to gullible yidden in EY for over 1,000 NIS. You can be fully mehader mitzvah with a nice Israeli or Morocean esrog for 100-200 NIS.