Macapuno

Macapuno

The endosperm of macapuno coconuts are jelly-like and fill almost the entirety of the central cavity in coconut seeds
Alternative names	Coconut sport
Place of origin	Philippines (originally domesticated)
Region or state	Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands
Associated cuisine	Philippines, Indonesian
Main ingredients	Coconut
Media: Macapuno

Macapuno also called coconut sport, is a naturally occurring coconut cultivar which 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.^[1]

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.