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I was recently reading a cooking manga named Shokugeki no Soma, in which the protagonist uses unconventional methods to cook specific dishes. In one chapter, he uses honey specifically to tenderize meat in a short amount of time. Here's the chapter page specifically:

enter image description here

I tried it for myself but can't seem to replicate the same thing he's done, if anything the beef remained relatively hard, and not soft as the manga describes. While some scenes are somewhat outlandish there is a certain truth to most of the cooking terms thrown around in the manga, so I'm curious: does honey actually contain proteases that tenderize meat quickly?

This article on LIVESTRONG.com seems to support the other fact in the same page which claims that pineapple can be used to tenderize meat, but it doesn't make any reference to honey at all.

If you're curious, this is the anime version of it:

https://youtu.be/5GCUzTyp9sE?t=6m36s

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    Professor Google reports "Fresh Pineapple Juice contains an enzyme bromelain, which is a natural meat tenderizer. It is used in many commercial meat tenderizers. This enzyme is destroyed in the canning process, so canned Pineapple Juice won't work."
    – Optionparty
    Jan 27, 2016 at 15:20
  • The acidity of pineapple is enough to tenderize. Bromelian also tenderizes and very effectively, but it's not the only tenderizing agent in pineapple.
    – Escoce
    Jan 27, 2016 at 16:02
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    A note to anybody (like myself) not very familiar with manga: the panels are apparently meant to be read right-to-left. Not that answers to the question are dependent on the story, but this does help make more sense of the fictional chef's claims about honey.
    – logophobe
    Jan 27, 2016 at 20:30
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    It would be atypical for that manga to present a false fact - most of the methods and ingredients described in it are accurate, albeit overdramatized; also one of the storywriters is a professional chef.
    – rackandboneman
    Jun 4, 2017 at 0:05

6 Answers 6

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Based on the description given in the manga (specifically "I rubbed it on the meat before boiling" [emphasis mine]) I would guess that this is not actually an effect of tenderization at all. Instead, the effect is possibly closer to that of velveting.

The velveting technique is typically done with a thin coating of corn starch, and my working theory is that this seals in the natural juices of the meat while preventing the outer layers from drying out. Being thick and viscous, honey might have much the same effect. As a result, the final product seems more tender, but that's just because it's been more delicately cooked - not due to any special tenderizing power of the honey itself.

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Yes honey tenderizes meat, though not to the degree shown and only if it is A. real honey not honey flavored rice syrup or sorghun syrup as most cheap honey is (Chinese Honey exports mostly) and B. It must be raw and unfiltered honey.

Bees eat a mixture of pollen proteins and honey and thus create and excrete special proteins that help breakdown other proteins. These protein enzymes are mixed with the honey because of the processes that occur in its creation, transportation, and preservation within the hive. Depending on the type of honey the pollen inclusions can also play a role in protein degredation. However, processing the honey often involves heating which denatures the native proteins rendering them ineffective.

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  • A number of online sources confirm that raw honey has proteases that can tenderize meat, which makes sense given that honey is a popular marinade ingredient in many cuisines. I cannot find any even vaguely scientific analyses to back this up, but it seems pretty likely. Honey - or anything sweet - will also make meat taste better for other reasons: coating the surface with sugars will improve searing, and a small amount of sugar can make any savory food taste richer and less dry.
    – Josh
    Oct 2, 2021 at 19:59
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I have used a honey and olive oil based overnight marinade for decades and in my opinion it definitely tenderises. I dont pretend to understand the science but in practice I find it works, and is extremely tasty.

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Yes, it will work by osmosis, but not very well, and very slowly. It will take lots of time, just like salt does. You tenderise by either adding enzymes (which honey does not have, because it is very pure without any proteins or fats, energy storages of bees) or activating enzymes...like salt does by breaking cell walls or getting fluids between the cells. Honey does that as well, but not as effective. Acidity will also destroy cells and activate enzymes (or inhibit the destruction of other enzymes) and tenderise, but that is not an enzyme reaction.

Time and salt are your best options. Acids and plant enzymes will mainly work on the surface, and likely mush up your meat.

http://www.beefresearch.org/CMDocs/BeefResearch/PE_Fact_Sheets/Adding_Enzymes_to_Improve_Beef_Tenderness.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/330c7a/does_honey_contain_protease/

http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/the-food-lab-more-tips-for-perfect-steaks.html

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    Honey is certainly not pure sugar. Pure sugar is ... sugar. Honey contains all sorts of things.
    – Joe M
    Jan 27, 2016 at 18:04
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    Honey is more than 96 percent glucose and fructose , and these are sugars.Sugar loosely refers to carbohydrates, monosaccharides, disaccharides, or oligosaccharides. So yes, it is sugar. But i see the confusion with "refined sugar". I meant it was pure in sugarish chemical substances, I edited it towards that.
    – Marc Luxen
    Jan 27, 2016 at 19:06
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    And no, honey does not contain much of all kind of things. It is essentially very pure sucrose and fructose. With some water and minerals, and very, very few proteins that could act as enzyms. Why would bees put many things in it, if it is just to store energy to get through the winter? Traces of substances, sure, but so minute and non-protein based they are irrelevant in tenderising meat. Only osmosis.
    – Marc Luxen
    Jan 27, 2016 at 19:06
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    "Proteases are used to produce proteins, which are in turn used to construct enzymes." No - enzymes are a specific kind of protein (well, some of them are RNA, but nearly all are proteins), and proteases are a specific kind of enzyme (they break up proteins, which means they do have an effect on meat).
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jan 27, 2016 at 21:19
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    Also, for reference, pineapple easily has enough protease to have a strong effect on meat. And it doesn't take much protease to have that effect: nutrition facts say it's 0.5% protein by weight, so it's at most 0.5% protease. Similarly, nutrition facts say honey is 0.3% protein by weight, so if all of that were protease, it could well have significant effects. You might well be right that it doesn't contain much protease, but your claim isn't really supported.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jan 27, 2016 at 21:30
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Honey is not a tenderizer, pineapple juice is. It's the acidity of the pineapple juice.

Honey has a low pH but it is far too viscous to penetrate pores.

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    I was under the impression that it's not just the acidity, it's the protease enzymes in the pinapple: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bromelain#Meat_tenderizing_and_other_uses It's potent enough to use on its own, without the acidity. (You sort of said this in a comment, so I think maybe it's just an accidental overstatement in the answer?)
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jan 27, 2016 at 21:33
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It's possible that a specific variety of honey may contain enzymes that would tenderise meat, but standard commercial honey would act as a preservative.

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  • How do you know that there aren't enzymes which are present in all honey? Is it because you think they're denatured by heat processing in commercial honey?
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jan 27, 2016 at 21:31
  • There are enzymes present in all raw honey, but I was thinking of the difference between honey derived from, for example, sage blossom and that derived from manuka. Different pollens create different honey
    – user42902
    Jan 27, 2016 at 22:21
  • Sure, I know there are differences (mostly fragrance, as far as I know), I'm asking why you think that the enzymes in question are one of those differences.
    – Cascabel ♦
    Jan 27, 2016 at 22:25
  • Only because of something I half remember regarding the more specialised bee-keeping practiced in Japan. I'm also pretty sure that the Asian bee produces different enzymes in the digestive process than the European honey bee. I'm simply saying that it's possible to create specialised honey, like manuka, which is purely medicinal in use as it tastes like reduced sarsaparilla
    – user42902
    Jan 28, 2016 at 8:08

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