Why do peas require meat tenderizer, but wheat germ does not?
We at the GSLC have done a fair amount of testing with the split pea protocol and the wheat germ protocol. We have found no difference in the “product” (nucleic acids) that is observable, whether using meat tenderizer or not. So, the step was left out of the wheat germ protocol, but kept in the split pea protocol just for fun. Even though it’s not necessary, it may be doing something we can’t see. For example, perhaps by using the meat tenderizer you get a purer sample of DNA, with less protein contaminating the sample.
