Kitchen week continues! With our kitchenware collection now officially launched, we'll shift our focus to explaining the benefits of our newest safe products for the kitchen this week and next. Stay tuned for posts on tableware, food prep and food storage to follow.
For most people, eating natural and unprocessed foods is a priority for optimal health. Unfortunately, a common mis-step often happens in the process of cooking these quality foods by using "non-stick" cookware. Why use purified water and organic produce, only to let your food be harmed by the pan you cook with? More and more, people are replacing non-stick cookware (which is lined with harmful chemicals) for non-reactive cookware made of inherently safer materials like clay and glass.
What exactly is harmful about a non-stick surface? Teflon, the brand behind non-stick cookware was all the rage when it made its debut in 1961, marketing the first product, "The Happy Pan." Now we know the "happy" part isn't grounds for much happiness anymore. Non-stick surfaces are metal pans (such as aluminum pans) coated with a synthetic polymer called polytetrafluoroetheylene (PTFE), also known as Teflon. Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is a chemical used to bond the coating to the pan. Toxic fumes released from heated teflon-coated pans (at medium to high temperatures) cause enough air pollution to kill a pet bird! These fumes can also cause people to develop flu-like symptoms called "Teflon Flu."
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), "The chemical PFOA pollutes over 95% of Americans' blood, including all 10 newborns surveyed in a study EWG commissioned in 2007. PFOA never breaks down in the environment, so every molecule of it produced since the 1950s or earlier will forever be in our air, water and bodies. In animals, PFOA causes cancer, birth defects and other health problems".
We are extremely proud to carry safe alternatives to non-stick from XTrema by Ceramcor and Anchor Hocking. For the XTrema cookware, we currently stock both the 8" skillet and 10" skillet, an 8" square cake pan, a 3.5 qt. sauce pot and a stove-top teapot. We're adding more of their products including a 16 oz. saucepan with cover. There are many benefits in cooking with XTrema:
- Healthy: Zero trace metals or chemicals leaching from cooking surfaces like PFOA.
- Versatile: Oven, stovetop, broiler, freezer, barbeque grill, microwave and dishwasher.
- High Temperature Cooking: withstands temperatures up to 2700 degrees F.
- Green: Made using natural gas, clay and water.
- Durable: Cannot be scratched even by metal utensils and industrial wool.
- Practical: Foods stay hotter longer and pans are easy to clean with smooth surface.
- Tasty: Ceramic cooking enhances food flavor.
Another great alternative for safer cooking is glass. Anchor Hocking uses soda-lime-silicate glass which is naturally non-porous, stain and odor resistant to make lead-free, BPA-free and PVC-free baking and cookware. Tempered glass is manufactured through a process of extreme heating and rapid cooling, making it four to five times stronger than standard glass and will not break into sharp shards if dropped.
The 12-cup glass bake 'n store and glass casserole dish are perfect for lasagnas and cobblers and can easily go from the oven straight to the table, and then to the refrigerator to store leftovers. Thick-walled glass has both durability and versatility to bake or cook in the oven up to 425 degrees. This bakeware is also safe in the microwave, dishwasher and freezer.
What are your experiences cooking with clay and glass?
...........and in case you haven't seen our fabulous $250 Healthy Kitchen GIVEAWAY, make a comment to enter!
