15 



ON THE SUPPOSED INFLUENCE OF THE PAPAW (C A RICA 

 PAPAYA) ON MEAT. 



Browne, in his Natural ' History of Jamaica,' tells us that the fruit of 

 the papaw has a pleasant, sweetish taste, and is much liked by many 

 people ; that, when young, it is commonly used for sauce ; and when 

 boiled and mixed with lime-juice and sugar, is not unlike or much 

 inferior to that made of apples, for which it is commonly substituted. In 

 the opinion of Sloane, it is not a very pleasant fruit, even when helped 

 with pepper and sugar; and the more ordinary use, he adds, of this fruit 

 is before it is ripe, when as large as one's fist : it is cut into slices, soaked 

 in water till the milky juice is out, and then boiled and eaten as turnips, 

 or baked as apples. 



The juice of the pulp is used as a cosmetic, to remove freckles on the 

 skin caused by the sun ; and the negroes in the French West India 

 Colonies employ the leaves to wash their hair, instead of soap. The 

 milky juice of the unripe fruit is a powerful and efficient vermifuge, and 

 the powdered seeds answer the same purpose. But the most extraordinary 

 property of the papaw tree is its alleged influence in rendering meat 

 tender — an opinion that prevails commonly in the East and West Indies. 

 Browne, in his ' Natural History of Jamaica,' mentions that " water impreg- 

 nated with the milky juice of this tree is thought to make all sorts of 

 meat washed in it very tender : but eight or ten minutes, it is said, will 

 make it so soft that it will drop in pieces from the spit before it is well 

 roasted, or turn soon to rags in boiling." Gentlemen who have been long 

 resident in the West Indies speak of the employment of the juice for 

 such a purpose as of quite general occurrence ; and more, that old hogs 

 and old poultry which are fed upon the leaves and fruit, however tough 

 the meat they afford might otherwise be, are thus rendered perfectly tender, 

 and good too, if eaten as soon as killed ; but that the flesh very soon passes 

 into a state of putridity. The juice causes a separation of the muscular 

 fibres. Nay, the very vapour of the tree is stated to serve the purpose : 

 hence many people suspend the joints of meat, fowls, &c, in the upper 

 part of the tree, in order to prepare them for the table. Such is the effect 

 upon hogs that feed upon the fruit, that the good housewives reject the flesh 

 of such if it is destined for salting, well knowing that it is not sufficiently 

 firm for the purpose of curing. In Ceylon, the opinion is that the effect is 

 secured mainly by suspending the meat beneath the foliage of the tree 

 during the ni^ht. In Barbados, a greater reliance is placed in wrapping 

 the meat in its leaves for a few hours with a portion of the young fruit. 

 Whether this power of hastening the decay of meat be attributed to the 

 animal matter or fibrine contained in the juice of the papaw, I will not 

 pretend to say ; but the presence of such is a fact scarcely less wonderful 

 than the property attributed to the tree. 



Two specimens of the juice were brought from the Mauritius : in the 



