Clay Pot Cooking – 10 Great-To-Know Tips

Considering clay pot cooking? Clearly you are one of those who cares for your health and wants to cook food in the healthiest way. Choosing healthy ingredients and following various tips for cooking healthy and nutritious food won’t do any good if you are not using the right cookware. Conventional metal and ceramic cookware leach and destroy nutrients in food leaving it contaminated and lacking nutritional value. Clay pot cooking is the most ancient but still the healthiest method of cooking all kinds of foods. Here are 10 tips to help you get started with cooking in an unglazed, all-natural clay pot:

1. Perfect for healthy eating: No matter what the manufacturers claim, no other cookware is a match to clay pot cooking. 100% natural clay is the only natural material free from any contaminants and preserves food’s nutrients while cooking. This makes it perfect for healthy cooking.

2. Has been there since ancient times: This method of cooking has been in existence for the longest time. People started using metals only a century or two ago but they didn’t know what this ‘switch’ could do to their health.

3. Non-toxic cooking pot: If your pot is unglazed and made from 100% pure clay (without additives), it is the safest and most non-toxic cooking pot.

4. Cooks faster with use: In a few uses of cooking in these pots, the cooking time reduces and most recipes cook in just about the same time or faster (with gas).

5. No need to soak each time: Pots made from primary clay that are high fired DO NOT need to be soaked each time before use. This makes cooking in clay pots a lot more convenient.

6. Can be used on different heat sources: You can use clay pots on gas, electric, outdoor grills, oven, induction on all cooking surfaces.

7. Needs to be dried properly before storing: While they like to be used constantly, it is important to dry a pure clay pot properly if storing them for a while. All it takes is wiping it down with a cotton towel and storing in a ventilated area. They may grow some harmless mildew if not fully dry, but can be cleaned easily by scrubbing some vinegar and rinsing off with warm water.

8. Multi-functional: Pure clay pots and pans can be used for almost all types of cooking. If you find the right one, they are actually multi-functional, from using as a Pressure cooker to Dutch oven to cooking rice and grains and so much more… A few of these pots can meet all your cooking needs!

9. Avoid deep frying: Pure clay pots are not recommended for deep frying. You can use a little oil if your recipe calls for it.

10. Lighter than cast iron: Some may think clay is heavy, but it is actually not… A 6 qt cast iron weighs around 15 lbs, where the same capacity, 6 qt Miriams Earthen Cookware is 5 lbs. It is sturdy and strong alright! MEC in all these years having sold a few thousand pots, has 2 reported broken pots.