Macapuno

Macapuno, also called coconut sport, is a naturally occurring coconut cultivar that has an abnormal development of the endosperm. The result of this abnormal development is a soft translucent jelly-like flesh that fills almost the entire central cavity of coconut seeds, with little to no coconut water.

Macapuno was first described scientifically from wild specimens in 1931 by Edwin Copeland. They were cultivated commercially in the Philippines after the development of the "embryo rescue" in vitro culture technology in the 1960s by Emerita V. De Guzman. Although called coconut sport, this mutation is not necessarily a sport in the botanical sense of a mutation arising in part of an adult plant; it may have arisen originally in a seed. It has become an important crop in coconut-producing countries and is now widely used in the cuisines of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

The name macapuno (also spelled makapuno) is derived from Tagalog makapuno, the local name of the phenotype in the Philippines, meaning "characterized by being full", a reference to the way the endosperm in macapuno coconuts fill the interior hollow of coconut seeds.

In Indonesia, the name kelapa puan means female coconut in the Indonesian language, referring to the relatively softer texture of the fruit flesh compared to regular coconut. Kelapa kopyor means scrambled coconut in the Javanese language, referring to when eggs are shaken, mixing the albumen (white) and yolk (yellow). The coconut is named so because of the white yellowish colour and "cluttered" texture. Kelapa lilin means "wax coconut" in the Indonesian language. These three coconut mutations have different properties but are frequently confused.

It is also known as dong kathi in Cambodia, thairu tengai in India, niu garuk in Papua New Guinea, pia in Polynesia, dikiri pol in Sri Lanka, maprao kathi (Thai: มะพร้าว กะทิ) in Thailand, and dừa sáp ('wax coconut') in Vietnam.

It is impossible to distinguish macapuno seeds from normal seeds based on the external appearance of the fruits. The only way to ascertain if a seed has the macapuno phenotype is to open it.

Normal coconut flesh mostly consists of galactomannan as a source of energy. In the development process, this substrate is degraded into two sub-components, galactose and mannose. In macapuno, the enzyme for degrading this substrate, α-D-galactosidase, is not active. Hence, the endosperm fails to nourish the embryo, resulting in a collapsed embryo. Besides this enzyme, a couple of other enzymes are also suspected of being involved in the development of this trait: sucrose synthase and stearoyl acyl carrier protein desaturase.

Kopyor coconuts have a higher sucrose proportion (92% of total sugar) and contain more total amino acids compared with young mature coconuts. The lipid content in the flesh is also lower compared to young mature coconut flesh. In addition to the higher content of citric and malic acids, all these properties may contribute to the taste of kopyor flesh.