How to know whether a coconut is ripe or rancid before buying Buying the shrink-wrapped coconuts (in shell) at the store is similar to playing Russian Roulette.  All this trouble of getting the water out and breaking the shell only to find out the coconut is rancid (and sometimes unripe).

Sometimes you can see dark spots on the outside of the shell which seem to indicate mould on the inside of the shell, but there seems to be plenty of rancid ones that don't show any spots.

Here's what they generally look like:



Are there definitive signs of rancidity (and ripeness) one can detect at the store before the 'autopsy'?
If the eyes of the coconut feel dry and slightly soft, its a good coconut. If they look/feel damp/mouldy then the coconut has gone bad.. You may have issues with this though as the coconuts you buy are covered. Any cracks in the shell is also a good sign that the coconut flesh is mouldy.