Has anyone ever used fresh figs as a meat tenderizer? I read figs has a high level of proteolytic enzymes "Ficin" that breaks down proteins and cause gelatin not to set.I am curious about how effective it would be and the flavor it would give the meat.

Seems like I saw somewhere that women in the old world would break a small branch and put it in the pot for that reason.

Steak marinated in figs sounds delicious.

Interesting...
my neighbor is using a kiwi as a meat tenderizer, and he thinks it works great. I never tried it yet, so cant tell for sure. But why not to try it with figs? It sounds delicious too :)

Papaya is often used to tenderize beef and other red meat which has the papain enzyme. I often purchase flank steak marinated this way from Costco. Comes out perfect on a hot grill.

In New Zealand they use Kiwi as a tenderizer for squid. Soak for at least 60 minutes but not more then 90 or the kiwi will transfer flavor to the squid.

I make a sauce out of figs, sugar, lemon zest and water (sometimes a bit of lime juice) that I use on pork tenderloins and it gets pretty high marks from guests.

I tried and did not like fig tea I ordered from Lebanon so I tried soaking some really tough cuts from an old buck and it had varying degrees of success.