Old Indian Trick

For centuries the Indians of Latin America have wrapped their tough, fresh-killed meat in leaves from the papaya tree before cooking it. They never knew why. but the leaves made the meat tender, kept in its juices. For decades scientists have known why: papaya leaf and the juice of the papaya fruit contain an enzyme which breaks down protein tissue in the same way as the stomach's digestive juices.

Despite this knowledge, dozens of attempts to make and sell commercial meat tenderizers made from papaya had little success, for the simple reason that users could not control the reaction. Most of the tenderizers were liquid solutions of papaya extract. Housewives soaked the meats until they tasted as if they had already been "digested"--which they had. But last week meat tenderizers in powder form were one of the fastest selling items in U.S. stores.

The biggest seller of all, Adolf's Meat Tenderizer, pioneered the new method of utilizing the papaya enzyme. Its promoters, two Hollywood ex-servicemen named Lloyd Rigler and Larry Deutsch, first encountered it in a mixture prepared by Adolf Rempp, a Los Angeles steakhouse chef whose steaks were unusually tender. They bought his formula for $10,000, worked out a way to blend the papaya extract with ordinary salt, which could be sprinkled evenly--and in visible amounts --on the meat. Rigler and Deutsch went about the U.S. inviting jaded food editors, who were cynical about all such preparations, to try theirs. In surprise, the editors began writing enthusiastically that "it really worked," made a cheap chuck steak as tender and nearly as flavorful as a sirloin, a tough stewing hen tender enough to broil. In three years Adolf's sales have risen to $3,000,000 a year.

The scramble brought in many a competitor, such as Atlanta's Artie's Meat Tenderizer, made by Nu-Way Foods Co. Two months ago came a newcomer: Chicago's Wyler & Co., well-known maker of soups and seasonings. Heartened by the big market, the rivals are now scrambling for new products. Adolf's has just brought out a salt substitute, and is planning to blend the substitute with the tenderizer for people on salt-free diets.

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