Cracking Characteristic on Polished Young Coconut and Its Prevention

Abstract

The cracking of young polished coconut is an important problem of the young coconut industry. The cause of fruit cracking could not be clearly explained. Therefore, the aim of the study was to determine the cause and prevention of the young polished coconut cracking. The cracking characteristics of young polished coconut were determined from the young coconut packing house together with the thickness of the shell and the internal pressure for 5 consecutive months. Moreover, the prevention of internal pressure was investigated by holding the harvested coconut for 1 and 3 days, before processing. The results showed that more than 77 percent of fruit cracking occurred on the stylar end approximately 3/4 of the fruit length when measured from the stem end of the coconut, especially in the large carpel due to it has the lowest shell thickness, approximately 2.15 mm, and 1.8 mm of horizontal and longitudinal shell thickness respectively. The internal pressure of young polished was more than 0.5 as compared to 0.03 pounds per square inch in the cracked fruit. Delaying the peeling and polishing process by 1 day after harvested could reduce the internal pressure from 0.5 to 0.1 pounds per square inch without any cracking.