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.

Kelapa kopyor means scrambled coconut in the Javanese language, referring to when eggs are shaken, mixing the albumen (white) and yolk (yellow).

In addition to the higher content of citric and malic acids, all these properties may contribute to the taste of kopyor flesh.

[7] The macapuno phenotype is believed to be controlled by a recessive gene (m) expressed as a homozygous condition in wild macapuno-bearing palms.

[12] While macapuno yields could be increased by planting macapuno-bearing palms close together or in isolation, the chances of the phenotype reoccurring in the fruits of the progeny was very low, at only 2 to 21%.

[7] Mass propagation of macapuno seedlings only became possible through the development of "embryo rescue" in vitro culture technology by the Filipina plant physiologist Emerita V. De Guzman of the University of the Philippines in the 1960s.

This technology was later improved in the 1990s by the Albay Research Center of the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA-ARC) headed by the Filipina biotechnologist Erlinda P.

[14][5] Four other improved protocols for coconut embryo culture technology were further developed by the PCA-ARC, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute (CPCRI) of India, and the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) of France.

These were tested by fourteen laboratories in eleven countries (China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Brazil, France, Mexico, and Tanzania) in the 1997 global Coconut Embryo Culture Project.

The traditional version is just the Kelapa puan/kopyor itself, sugar, ice cubes, and water, rendering the taste of the unique coconut authentic.

[citation needed] In Vietnam, macapuno is grown in Tra Vinh and Ben Tre provinces and is an expensive delicacy.