Dutch ovens are pretty useful and versatile piece of cookware. It’s a two-piece cooking utensil that includes a pot along with its well-fitting lid. They have thicker walls than a regular pot and some of these can be used on the stove top or in the oven. They are used to cook a variety of dishes, from soups, stews to all kinds of rice and other casseroles dishes.
When choosing a dutch oven, we look at the shape, size, and weight to make sure it would be easy to handle and clean while fully serving the purpose of cooking in it. But have you ever thought of choosing a healthy Dutch oven?
A healthy dutch oven would be one that doesn’t leach toxins into food while cooking. Typically Dutch ovens are made from metals like cast iron, aluminum, stainless steel etc. or ceramic. Cooking is a chemically transformational process, the metal ions from metal pots and the chemicals and oxides from ceramics react with food with heat as a catalyst. In fact, all metals, chemicals, glazes, enamels etc. leach toxins [chemicals like Cadmium, Lead, Petalite (Lithium) and metal ions like Al-Aluminum, Ni-Nickel (steel), Ti- Titanium (steel), Mo – Molybdenum (steel), Cr-Chromium (steel), Fe-Iron (steel)] into food while cooking, even at low heat. These toxins assimilate with food and accumulate in the body, causing health problems.
In order to make a healthy dutch oven, the use of chemicals, metals or ceramic must be avoided. MEC’s pure-clay™ pots make healthy Dutch ovens as pure-clay is naturally free from toxins and doesn’t react to food at all. MEC’s Dutch ovens are hand made from certified pure-clay with the utmost care to avoid the use of chemicals.
“I love my clay pots! It feels good knowing there are no metals or chemicals leaching into my healthily cooked meals.”, says Michelle — a healthy MEC cook concerned about the health of her family.
MEC’s healthy Dutch ovens are 100% non-toxic and can easily pass the baking soda test, that can be performed at home to test the toxicity of a utensil. This is how it’s done:
- Boil 2-3 cups of water in any pot, when it starts boiling add 2 tsp of baking soda. Boil for 5 more minutes. Turn stove off.
- Wait till cool enough to taste then taste the water (take a sip). If you taste metals, that’s what you’re eating! If water has a rubber/paint taste it’s the chemicals from enamel/glaze.
- As a control, stir 2 tsp of baking soda to 1 glass of water and take a sip — you will taste just the baking soda. It shows the material doesn’t leach anything and is appropriate for cooking.
If the dutch oven in your kitchen fails this test, head over to MEC to find a healthy alternative!
Why Choose Healthy Cookware? 