Characteristics and quality of virgin coconut oil as influenced by maturity stages

Characteristics and quality of Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) extracted from coconut with three different maturity stages including immature coconut (IMC), mature coconut (MC) and overlay mature coconut (OMC) were comparatively studied. The highest recovery (95.64%) was found in VCO from OMC (p < 0.05), followed by those from MC (84.40%) and IMC (61.06%), respectively. All VCO samples had water-like appearance and contained medium chain fatty acid (MCFA), especially lauric acid (C12:0) as a major fatty acid, (49.74-51.18 g/100g). Myristic acid (C14:0) in the range of 18.70-19.84 g/100g was present in all VCO. Quality parameters of all VCO samples complied with Asian Pacific Coconut Community (APCC) standards. All VCO samples had low lipid hydrolysis and oxidation, indicating that maturity stages had no influence on oil oxidative stability. Thus, maturity stages played an essential role in recovery, but showed no impact on fatty acid composition and physicochemical properties of resulting VCO.