Evening star., 1939-07-15
Of Stars, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
By Thomas r. Henri.

And Study
By Thomas r. Henry.
A creamy yellow powder can be ex-
tracted from pineapples which will make
the toughest steaks tender in few
minutes.
Ways Of extracting 1t were described
before the International Chemical and
Technical Congress of Agricultural In
dustries at Budapest, Hungary, today, in
a paper prepared by DR.. A. K. Balls Of
the United States Department of Agri-
culture.
The substance is bromelin. It is found
in the leaves and stems as well as the
fruits of pineapples. 1t is, DR.. Balls
said, protein -digesting engine, SINH
lar in its action to pepsin, which digests
meats in the human stomach. Pepsin,
however, is active only in an extremely
acid environment, while the pineapple
extract acts in a neutral environment,
such as a restaurant or home kitchen.
Applied to tough meats Immediately be-
fore cooking, it digests very rapidly the
tough connective tissue and may make
the toughest rib steak the equal Of por-
terhouse, so far as tenderness is con-
cerned.
So far as known, DR.. Balls said, neither
bromelin nor several similar substances
which lately have been found in various
fruits, actually do any damage to the
person who eats the meat any more
than does the pepsin which is in the
stomach all the time. Thus far, how
ever, the meat-digesting engines have
not been given the approval Of the De-
Drug Administration. He is not recon-
mending the use Of bromelin, DR.. Balls
said, at this time, but is experimenting
on the possibility of its industrial appli
cation If it ever is approved.
Already somewhat similar prepara-
ton is used in some restaurants. It Is
papain, extracted from green papayas,
melonlike fruits grown in the tropics.
Now supplies are imported from Ceylon
and usually are sold in a solution so
that few restaurant chefs themselves
know what they are using.
Recently somewhat similar engine
has been extracted from figs and seed
growers have been complaining that skin
is eaten away from the fingers of men
employed continuously to cut open do
mestic melons, due to some engine in
the juice.
The bromelin is chiefly concentrated
in pineapple juice, DR.. Balls pointed out,
but is present in very minute amounts
only about l pound to so gallons. But
little goes long way and the Depart
ment of Agriculture chemists are hoping
that cheap methods of extraction will be
found which may be the basis for new
American industry
The engine predigesters coupled with
a recent ultraviolet light treatment per-
fected at the Mellon Institute in Pitts
burgh, it was pointed out by chemists
familiar with DR.. Balls work, promise
completely to eliminate tough meats
TIE latter process depends on various
similar but less active substances in the
meat itself, which can make meat rea-
sonably tender only over a period of
couple of days at room temperature 1t
has been impossible to utilize them in
the past because it was necessary to keep
meat in cold storage where the engines
were inactive.
Now, it is found. when a cut is first
irradiated with ultraviolet light the
organisms which would cause it to spoil
are killed, so that it can be kept at room
temperatures long enough for the en-
zymeS to act without deteriorating
Either bromelin or papain can be used
to continue this process, but only for a
few minutes before cooking They are
so powerful that the toughest steak soon
would be reduced to soup.
The paper was presented in a SYM
postum on the utilization of by-products
of the fruit-growing industry.
Americans are becoming a Nation of
fruit drinkers" DR.. Henery E. Gorsa-
line of the United States Department of
Agriculture told the delegates at the
same symposium.
Within the past 10 years, he said. the
drinking Of fruit juices in this country
has nearly doubled, with a present out
put of 130,000,0OO gallons a year. OF
this, 100000 gallons is accounted for
by tomato juice and about 9,OOO, 900 gal
Ions by pineapple juice.
He described some of the complex
problems facing Department of Agri-
culture chemists in preventing spoilage
and bringing out the rich colors of the
original fruits