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The meat tenderizer trick was our very first home remedy in the original edition of The People's Pharmacy®.* We stumbled across it in the Journal of the American Medical Association.**
Dr. Harry L. Arnold of the American Health Institute suggested mixing 1/4 teaspoon of tenderizer with 1 teaspoon of water to make a paste. Smearing this on a bee or wasp sting relieves the pain.
A variation was suggested by a lifeguard in Hawaii who had to deal with insect and jellyfish stings. He used a paste of meat tenderizer and vinegar and claimed it was magical.
- Graedon, Joe. The People's Pharmacy®. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1976; p. 54.
** Arnold, [Harry L.] "Immediate Treatment of Insect Stings." JAMA 1972; 220:585.
My grandmother lived on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay and always kept a supply of meat tenderizer at hand to neutralize the inevitable jellyfish stings we all got in August. She also used baking soda sometimes, I think.
I grew up in Texas, where fire ants are a daily nuisance. My mother always kept meat tenderizer on hand and would treat our ant bites with it. She would make a cold compress by wetting a paper towel, sprinkling meat tenderizer on it, and placing the cool, wet towel on our bite with the meat tenderizer down. This always reduced the swelling, itching, and burning.
I just got an ant bite yesterday. I called my Mother and she suggested the meat tenderizer. It works so well, the pain is just about gone.
When my children have gotten stung by a bee or wasp, I crush an aspirn, wet the sting area and pat on the crushed aspirin and let it sit there for a few minutes. No swelling, no pain, no reaction. Good as new. I always carry aspirins with me. It has come in handy many times when at a soccer game for my kids and someone gets stung by a bee or wasp. Works every time.
I grew up on the chesapeake bay. We would swin in the bay every summer as kids and we all got stung by jelly fish. I guess that's why the people there are so tough. It's weird--you went swimming and got stung, just a part of life there. You didn't cry to your mama, just put some meat tenderizer on it and you started the same routine up the next day.
My grandfather told me to try soaking my hand in Epsom salt after I was stung by a bee and had a lot of pain and swelling. I could not even close my hand. I tried it and it relieved all of the pain and swelling. I have also been stung and know that a paste of wet Epsom salt works just as well.
Vicks Vapor rub is also good for bites and stings. No tenderizer in kitchen, get vicks and apply,no rubbing.
For STINGS and fly bites (or bites from any of these pests) put a penny over the bite or sting and tape it on with scotch tape or a bandaid. Pull out any stinger first. The pain is gone in no time and it will soon be back to normal.
Another hint: Skin So Soft by Avon, rubbed on bare skin, tends to keep the flies from biting - - until I start to sweat then they swarm on me like I'm dessert.