Selection of the nuts for VCO processing starts at the farm when the nuts are collected. For VCO
production, only sound, fully mature nuts (12–13 months old) should be selected as these have the
highest oil content and the lowest moisture content. Nuts with cracks, or a damaged soft eye or
germination growth exceeding 1 cm must be discarded. Under conditions in PICTs where nuts are
not being picked from the tree but are picked up from the ground after they have fallen, it is difficult to
get a batch of ungerminated nuts. One compromise is that if germinated nuts cannot be avoided, only
nuts with a maximum germination growth of one centimetre should be accepted for VCO production.
Generally speaking, the maturity of whole unhusked coconuts can be determined by the indicators
described below.
• Colour of the husk – mature nuts at 12–13 months old are light brown or yellowish brown; those
at 10–11 months are green with a tinge of yellow. Immature nuts less than ten months old are
generally green except for those varieties that have golden nuts (e.g. Sri Lankan golden king,
Malaysian red dwarf).
• Colour of the shell – another indication of the maturity of the nut is the colour and the hardness
of the shell. Mature coconuts have a hard, brown shell.
• The sound that the nut makes when it is shaken – immature nuts do not make a noise when
shaken because the cavity is completely full of water. Mature nuts make a sloshing sound when
shaken (Ranasinghe, Cataoan and Patterson 1980).
Over-mature nuts (above 13 months old), especially those which have already germinated, impart an
off-flavour and oily taste to coconut products so they should be discarded. Likewise, the oil content of
the kernel starts to decline once the haustorium (creamy, spongy tissue that fills a germinating nut) is
formed. Aside from oil yield, the oil quality also deteriorates as the haustorium grows bigger.