Harmful Metals To Avoid For Cooking Food

Cooking is said to be an art. Right from choosing the ingredients and cooking on the right flame to plating and perfectly cooked food, it requires a lot of effort. More important than any of the previous steps is choosing the right utensil for cooking. The type of metal you use to cook your food not only affects the quality of the food but also has an impact on your health. Here are a few metals in which regular cooking must be avoided:

Copper cookware

Though copper utensils are ideal to drink water from, they are not suitable when it comes to cooking. The main reason why copper vessels should be avoided while cooking salty food is due to their reactive nature. The iodine present in salt instantly reacts with copper, which further releases more copper particles. This isn’t very healthy for our body, which is why copper utensils are usually avoided while cooking. Moreover, if a copper cooking pot is not lined properly, it releases harmful chemicals when put on flame which gets mixed with the food.

You can drink water in a copper glass, eat in copper plates, and even store water in copper jugs in order to extract maximum benefits from the metal.

Brass utensils

Brass was a common metal back in the days, which is why most of the traditional recipes are still cooked in brass utensils. Several old recipes of chicken, mutton, and biryani were made in big brass handis because of the heavy base of the utensil. When heated brass too reacts with salty food and is not very healthy for our body. Compared to other utensils brass is not that harmful and can be used (with precaution) once in a while.

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Aluminum cookware

Aluminum is an excellent heat conductor, which is the reason why it is the most common metal used in making utensils. When put on high flame, the metal is highly reactive with acidic foods such as tomatoes and vinegar. This chemical reaction of acidic vegetables along with aluminum gets mixed with the food while cooking. This food, when consumed, might harm your immune system over a period of time. You must always use a wooden spatula while cooking in an aluminum vessel instead of a steel one, as it erodes its baselining.

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Best Possible Metal For Cooking

Iron, stainless steel and clay pots are some of the best possible cookware which can be used for cooking.

Clay pot allows moisture and heat to circulate through the food, which helps in preserving the nutrients. Clay pot is not easy to use in everyday usage which is why it isn’t much popular in the kitchens.

Another excellent metal that is widely used for cooking is stainless steel. These utensils are made by mixing chromium, nickel, silicon, and carbon. They retain heat for a long period of time and excel when it comes to durability. Make sure you buy only good quality stainless steel as fake steel utensils can be harmful for your health.

The best possible metal with absolutely zero harmful effects is iron. When put on flame, the utensil releases iron, which is essential for the better functioning of the body. Iron utensils get heated up evenly and properly cooks all parts of the food.

However, you don’t need to throw away all your copper, brass, or aluminum utensils right away. All you need to be is replace one or two utensils with any of the above-given metals. You can either replace your aluminum cooker with stainless steel one or replace your copper kadhai with an iron kadhai. Making these few changes in your kitchen cookware will help you move towards better living, one utensil at a time!

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