Papaya leaves vs commercial tenderizer

Ever wondered how to get rid of that stubborn, chewy toughness when cooking red meat especially mutton?

To figure that out, we need to first find out what contributes to mutton toughness....Take a look at this....

The mutton toughness is contributed by the the number of cross-linked chains per volume of meat explains a large amount of the tenderness variation, produced by muscle type, animal age, type, and sex in different species. During heating collagen fibres and fibrils shortening produces a pressure which is also dependent on the total amount of cross-linked chains present per volume, but also on the morphology of endomysial and perimysial envelopes. In meat, during heating, collagen fibres and fibrils thermal shortening is restricted by muscle fibres and muscle fibre bundles. This restriction, which depends on several muscle fibre characteristics, has a strong effect on the final elastic modulus of connective tissues, by changing the respective amount of crystalline and rubber-like fractions in collagen fibres and fibrils after heating. The implication of this phenomenon determines the tenderness variations ( J.Lepetit, 2008). The many problems that are being faced while cooking mutton is that, the mutton does not cook till soft but even though the mutton is being cooked for s long time, it remain tough and chewy, this does not give good satisfaction while eating.

Now that we know a little bit about the workings of mutton tissue..here's some facts about Papain, the enzyme in papaya and its leaves..

Papain is an enzyme derived from milky sap which is also to be known as latex, which comes from the unripe Carica papaya, a large, pear shaped fruit which hails from South America. It is believed that Greener the papaya, the more effective and active is its enzymes because the enzymes lose their strengths as the fruits ripen and the enzymes are inactive as they are fully ripe. For years, the people has collected these papayas, slashed them and collected their sap just to tenderize their meat. Some of the other tenderizing methods are wrapping the meat in papaya leaves in order to tenderize the meat.

What about commercial tenderizers then?

Commercial Tenderizers contain no flavour and it’s a blend of salt, dextrose, bromelain and calcium silicate. Bromelain is added as the tenderizer and calcium silicate is added as the free flowing. Bromelain is an enzyme that breaks down tissue. The enzyme action stops only when heated so tenderizers must always be used prior to cooking. If tenderizer is left on meat too long before cooking, meats will become mushy. Freezing will not completely stop the enzyme action.

And now, on to the objectives of the experiment:

To compare the commercial meat tenderizer to the papain effect on food as the meat tenderizer.. the papain has showed more effect compared to the commercial meat tenderizer. The papaya leaves had left the meat to be less tough compared to the commercial meat tenderizer which was considered tougher. It took a considerate amount of time to chew the papaya leave wrapped meat compared to the commercial meat tenderizer. When cutting the meat, the commercial meat tenderizers meat took a sufficient long time compared to the papaya leaves wrapped meat which was easier. The papaya leaves wrapped meat had a lighter colour compared to the commercial meat tenderizer which was darker, also together with that, the papaya leaves imparted natural smell to the mutton.

Ingredients:

- Mutton shoulder

- Commercial tenderizer

- Papaya leaves (green)

- Soup stock

- Garlic

- Onion

Methods

A – Wrapped with Papaya Leaves
1. Firstly, the mutton was cut into cubes.
2. Then, it is washed under running water.
3. The mutton cubes were then wrapped inside the cleaned green papaya leaves and they were tied up with cooking strings.
4. The wrapped muttons were then left to boil with water in a pan for 30 minutes.
5. The papaya leaves were removed and the characteristics were observed and recorded.
6. The mutton was then, added into a frying pan where the sliced onion and garlic were added together in order to make the soup. The soup stock was then added as the water was added into the pan.
7. The soup is then left to boil, till the mutton was ready to be eaten.
8. The results are observed and recorded

B – McCormick Meat Tenderizer Added.
1. The meat tenderizer was added to the mutton cubes and was left for 30 minutes.
2. Steps 6 and 7 were followed again.
3. The results are observed and recorded.

C – Control
1. The mutton cubes were not added with any agents therefore, it is being put to step 6 and 7 to be followed,
2. The results was observed and recorded.

RESULTS

15 laymen panelist who consisted of Anne’s relatives and neighbours came and gave their sensory evaluation on the mutton after the experiment was completed. Each were given three small samples of cooked mutton which were labeled as A, B and C and each panelist were asked to rate the level of tenderness of the meat from 1-3, 1 being the most tender and 3 being the least tender


The sample with the least marks is the most tender.
Thus Papaya mutton is the most tender which is followed by commercial tenderizer and control.

Finished products of control, papain, and commercial tenderizer

A layer of oil formed during boiling of mutton wrapped up in papaya leaves

DISCUSSION
Papaya leaf was used in this experiment because it contains papain. Papain is an enzyme that can tenderize the meat. The papain will break the connective tissues and fibers in the meat which causes the meat to be tenderized. This enzyme also breaks down wheat gluten and carbohydrates. This will be beneficial for extra digestive protection.
The tenderised meat was categorised as soft and chewable while the untenderised meat was categorised as hard and tough (Bille et. al 2008)
The following are the characteristics of papain enzyme:
a) Optimal pH : 6.0-7.0
b) Optimal temperature : 149°F
The papain also works effectively in tenderising the meat because the optimal pH for this enzyme is neutral or slightly acidic which is the characteristic of the meat itself (Indiancurry n.d). This experiment involves boiling the mutton wrapped in papaya leaf because it will provide the optimum condition which is about 149°F.
The time taken to tenderise the meat depends on several factors like:
a) pH
b) temperature
c) type of meat
d) cut of meat
e) initial level of tenderness
The mutton was diced into equal sizes and wrapped into a few parcel by the papaya leaf. This step was necessary because dicing the mutton would provide a larger surface area for the papain to react on the meat and would result in a better tenderised meat.
Due to these wonderful properties of papaya and its leaf that has papain. These are used to make commercial meat tenderizers.
The commercial meat tenderizer is the crude and dried material sourced from bromelain which undergoes a government approved purification process and extraction method.


CONCLUSION
The mutton wrapped in papaya leaf was rated as the most tenderised and followed by the mutton with the commercial tenderiser and the mutton under controlled condition.

Alternatives
1. Using unripened papaya fruits cuts
2. Mechanical tenderizer
3. Cooking




References

Chillemi et al., 2005. The Complete Herbal Guide: A Natural Approach to to Healing the Body. Lulu.com Publications:1st Edition pg 283-284.
IndianCurry.com., n.d. How to use Papaya to Tenderise Meats. [Online] Available from: [Accessed on 31st October 2009]
Bille et al., 2008. Effect of two commercial meat tenderizers on different cuts of goat’s meat in Namibia. Thesis. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, Vol. 8, No. 4, 2008, pp. 417-426
Anon., Meat tenderizer as commercially prepared powder. [Online] Available from: [Accessed on 1st November 2009]

Done by:
Amanda 1000717256
Anne 1000614347
Vanessa 1000717287