Export grading paperwork rarely spells out colour in plain words — it hides behind grade letters and size codes. Here's how to read what's actually behind them.
Grade letters carry a colour expectation, even unstated
A Jumbo or AA grade Medjool is expected to be a deep, even mahogany-brown with no green shoulders — a green tinge means it was picked before the sugar conversion finished, which is a lower grade regardless of size. Ajwa graded for export is expected uniformly near-black; visible reddish-brown patches usually drop it to a mixed or B grade even if the size and weight both pass.
Colour uniformity matters more than shade at export level
A box can be entirely acceptable at a slightly lighter shade of Deglet Noor's usual amber, as long as every piece in the box matches. What fails inspection is a mixed box — some pieces clearly darker or lighter than the rest — because that signals the box was filled from more than one harvest lot without sorting, which also means moisture content varies piece to piece.
The colour check happens before the weight check
Graders sort by colour on a light table first, pulling anything off-shade, then weigh and box what's left. That order matters for a buyer: a supplier who skips the colour sort to save time is the same supplier likely to skip other steps, so ask directly whether colour sorting happens before or after packing.
What a genuinely mixed-grade box looks like
Some suppliers deliberately sell a "mixed grade" box at a lower price, and that's a legitimate product as long as it's labelled as such. The problem is a Grade A box quietly padded with B-grade colour rejects — check a handful of pieces from different spots in the box before accepting a shipment — the top layer alone won't show you a padded batch.
See our Medjool pricing guide and the local vs. imported kurma guide for grade comparisons.