Papain

[Jamesey1981]

Bit of an odd one this, but I have papain powder included in my preps and I've never seen in mentioned on any prepping forums so I thought some of you might appreciate a heads up, papain is a very powerful meat tenderiser extracted from papaya (so powerful in fact that meat left in it will dissolve eventually)
I've used it for years (either the powder or by blending papaya skins into the marinade) on older rabbits to make them suitable for barbecuing and fast cooking processes, and the way I figure it, in an emergency situation anything that can conserve fuel while making food more digestible is useful. It also has a fair few medical uses according to web MD, although I haven't researched that side of it yet so don't take my word for that one without looking into it.
For those of you that shoot, or receive some of the tougher game from someone that does, give it a go, I think it's a really useful thing to have in your kit, as you can make nearly anything tender enough to eat.

[Holomon]

Bit of an odd one this, but I have papain powder included in my preps and I've never seen in mentioned on any prepping forums so I thought some of you might appreciate a heads up, papain is a very powerful meat tenderiser extracted from papaya (so powerful in fact that meat left in it will dissolve eventually)
I've used it for years (either the powder or by blending papaya skins into the marinade) on older rabbits to make them suitable for barbecuing and fast cooking processes, and the way I figure it, in an emergency situation anything that can conserve fuel while making food more digestible is useful. It also has a fair few medical uses according to web MD, although I haven't researched that side of it yet so don't take my word for that one without looking into it.
For those of you that shoot, or receive some of the tougher game from someone that does, give it a go, I think it's a really useful thing to have in your kit, as you can make nearly anything tender enough to eat.

Just had a long look into this as I'd never heard of it, but it doesn't look like there have been any useful studies into the medical application of papain.
What I can say from reading into it's structure and how that would interact with the body is that I'm very doubtful it would have any effect for some of the cures claimed like pain relief or herpes.
From the looks of it, it should do a reasonable job of breaking down and helping to remove necrotic tissue by doing exactly what you use it for to soften up meat. It's apparently used in a fair few topical ointments for that purpose, but there's not much published proof available.

It does look like there might be some allergy issues though, as well as the FDA having issues with the topical products in the States, there's potential cross-reactivity from a couple of other thiol proteases (Meaning maybe give it a pass if you are allergic to any of the following);

- Papaya
- Fig
- Latex
- Kiwi fruit
- Avocado
- Pineapple
- Banana

It also looks like it's a demonstrable occupational allergen which can cause asthmatic symptoms if regularly exposed to it as a dust in the atmosphere.

[Jamesey1981]

Haven't looked into the medical uses properly as I said, just remember spotting that there were some claimed ones so mentioned it, lots of herbalist type sites claiming a fair few uses but I've not managed to find anything actually concrete either.
Still a damn good meat tenderiser though, I reckon you could eat a hiking boot if you gave it a decent marinate in it.