Kitchens are the heart of your home. Everyone has fond memories of serving dishes or cooking some special things in the kitchen.

Nowadays, everyone wants to cook healthy, eat healthy dishes & be healthy for their family. But if you are cooking in a utensil that can add toxic material to your food, then what’s the use of the whole healthy process in the first place?

Today, Sharing with you all top & healthy cookware and utensils to be used in kitchens so that you can cook & eat healthily!

I.  Clay Cookware

BEST OPTION

Earthen pots are by far the most scientific & healthiest cookware ever made in the world.

Health Benefits

• Porosity & Natural Insulation (properties of the clay) cause the heat and moisture to circulate evenly through the clay pots due to which there is hardly any nutrient loss.
• Cooking in clay pots retains 100% nutrients.
• A Powerhouse of Nutrients – Clay has manganese, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, sulfur & many more essential minerals in their right quantity.

Only Downside - Cooking food in clay pots takes more time. For example, dal(lentil curry) is cooked in 25-30 mins.

Special Care - Clay pots needed to wash properly with soil or water. You need to handle them with care.

Prefer local vendors to buy clay pots for your home. Be Vocal about the Local!

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II.  Cast Iron Cookware

PRACTICAL & SAFE OPTION

Cooking in iron cookware adds the iron content to the food cooked in them.

Health Benefits

• Women struggling with excessive bleeding during periods are often prescribed iron supplements. But they are unable to take those supplements due to digestion problems.
• A simple change of cooking in Iron Kadhai or pan could solve their problems!

Only Downside - Cast Iron cookware is heavy & prone to rusting.

Special Care - Iron Cookware needs to be oiled regularly to prevent them from rusting.

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III.  Brass, Bronze & Kansa Cookware

PRACTICAL & SAFE OPTION

Brass & Bronze are alloys of copper metal. Pure copper metal tends to react with acidic foods. That's the reason, brass is re-tined naturally for use.

Kansa is a hard alloy of bronze, which itself a good option for cookware.

Health Benefits

• Food cooked in Brass utensils retains 93% of nutrients, whereas aluminum utensils retain only 13% of the nutrients of the cooked food.
• Kansa cookware cooking retains 97% nutrients. It was widely used in cooking in India 30-40 years back. Unfortunately rarely used these days!

Special Care - Use Pitambari powder for washing brass utensils.

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IV.  Stainless Steel

GOOD OPTION

100% pure stainless steel utensils are good to use. These are considered healthy options.

Stainless steel containers with copper bottoms are not recommended for cooking. It tends to react with oils & acidic foods. Better not to buy them!

Only Downside - Many companies are nowadays not selling 100% pure stainless steel utensils. In fact, some manufacturers don't even show the complete composition of their utensils.

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A Complete No-No!

Due to heat while cooking, some part of the utensil leaches into your cooked food, so if your utensil is made of toxic material, it can be toxic for you too!

Non- stick containers - More than 90% of Indian kitchens now see the upsurge of non-stick cookware. These are convenient to use, easy to clean & not heavy.

Why No? Non-stick containers are coated with polytetrafluoroethylene (plastic polymer). This polymer enters your body through your food!

Aluminum Cookware - Aluminum rose to fame due to its abundance, cheap, strong, lightweight, versatile & recyclable properties.

 Why No? Similarly, aluminum too sticks to your food & reaches inside your body!

You may be unknowingly inviting yourself to hypothyroidism, hormonal imbalance, memory loss, heart complications, kidney problems, etc.

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Final Remarks

In the end, If I am to make a list of healthy utensils as per descending order, that list would be like below.

1. Clay pots – Best Option
2. Brass, Bronze & Iron – Good Option
3. Stainless Steel - Manageable Option
4. Glass – Good for Microwaves & Ovens' Cookin
5. Aluminum & Non-Stick - Completely Avoid

Hope you find the blog useful :)

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