Category: Healthy cooking pots

Clay or Pure Clay? Let’s Understand the Difference

Cooking in clay is not something that modern world has given us. This healthy way of cooking is so ancient that its roots go beyond recorded history. Until few decades ago, clay cookware used to be the primary cooking utensil and nobody ever thought about changing the core material to something else. People probably switched to metal and ceramic cookware when the manufacturers became more profit-centric and less health conscious, so they started using other materials for making cooking pots without ensuring that they were even appropriate for this purpose. As a result, these toxic materials have almost replaced clay cookware and have become the most popular today.

You can still find cookware made from clay in the market but they are far from being healthy. Conventional clay cookware is seldom made from primary clay and it is coated with chemical glazes and enamels for a finished and shiny look. The most popular ceramic clay is a composition of stoneware, porcelain or terracotta glazed with chemical colors and varnishes. They leach harmful toxins into food, some at room temperature and others when heated.

How is Pure Clay different?

Pure clay is primary clay harvested from unfarmed and non-industrialized lands where it is found in the purest form – free from chemicals and other toxins. It has a natural property of being absolutely non-reactive, so unlike most metal and ceramic cookware, it doesn’t leach anything into food. To keep this property intact, no chemicals are used in manufacturing pure clay pots and pans and also they are not coated with chemicals for finishing or coloring purposes.

When a clay cookware has to go through a mechanized process, using chemicals becomes a necessity, but there is no such problem with pure clay pots as they are handmade and extreme care is taken that no chemicals are used at any stage of manufacturing process. This is what makes them 100% non-toxic.

Read: How do you know if you are using a truly healthy cookware?

You can easily differentiate pure clay pots from conventional clay (ceramic) pots by doing a simple alkaline baking soda test at home, which tests if a cookware leaches while cooking. Baking soda is highly alkaline in nature which makes it quite similar to food (an alkaline biochemical substance), so if a cookware is leaching something that is reactive to baking soda, it will definitely react to food and make it toxic. Wanna test the clay cookware you are using is made from pure clay? Have some baking soda ready and follow these steps:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Miriams Earthen Cookware’s pure-clay pots and pans are the only ones that pass this test and are 100% safe and non-toxic. If you are looking for a truly healthy clay cookware, then pure clay is your best option. Feel free to visit miriamsearthencookware.com and find a suitable pure-clay cookware for your kitchen.

Choosing the best cookware set? Here is the most important thing to keep in mind.

Shopping for the best cookware set, what comes to our mind first? The shape, size, design, and color — right? What if I tell you these should be the least of your concerns as there are more important things that quality it to be the “best”?

First of all, you need to decide whether you need a cookware or a showpiece. Conventional cookware made from metals or ceramics are glazed with chemicals and enamels to give them a finished, shiny and sometimes colorful look. People get attracted to them as if they are going to use them as show-pieces instead of for cooking food. For cookware to be called ‘best’, it should fully serve its purpose – cook in the healthiest way possible. The color and design on the surface don’t really make a great deal of difference.

The problem with sets available in the market is that they are made from materials that leach toxins while cooking. Metals like aluminum, iron, nickel, magnesium, molybdenum, lead — all subject to react with water, nutrients, vitamins & minerals, proteins and carbs that are in the form of halogens, acids and bases. Conventional ceramic cookware made from ceramic clay, porcelain, stoneware and the glazes and enamel used for coating is a composition of different chemicals, oxides, and metals.

Cooking is a chemically transformational process. Metals leach ions at cooking temperature, which then react with food (a biochemical entity) while heat acts as a catalyst. These metal ions then assimilate with food and accumulate in tissues, organs, and blood over time. If this goes on for a long time, several health problems may arise ranging from minor illnesses and allergies to chronic diseases.

Moreover, metals and ceramics cook with excessive and uneven heat to food, the temperature is high at the bottom than at the top. Such a harsh heat damages delicate nutrients and leaves food nutritionally depleted.

However, there is a material that is 100% pure and is perfect for making cookware – pure clay. Its origin lies in our ancient history when people used to cook in clay cookware. They were probably more aware than us about the harmful effects of using chemicals and metals in cookware.  Pure clay pots are free from metals or chemicals and do not leach toxins into food. This primary clay can be harvested in its purest form from un-farmed and non-industrialized lands and care needs to be taken to not use any chemicals, glazes or enamels while making cookware. You can test this by doing a simple alkaline baking soda test at home.

Not only is it the safest material but the unique far-infrared heat it generates cooks your food thoroughly without damaging nutrients. When cooking in these pots and pans you can be sure you are using the best cookware sets available out there. So, don’t wait anymore, find a 100% pure-clay cooking pot and experience the difference today!