The effect of cooking utensils on food

I use a large ceramic pot I bought in a Chinese grocery store. It’s ideal for slow cooking, soups & stews. I soak barley and lentils then put them in with a lamb shank & root vegies. I prefer to use ceramic or vitreous pots as metal pots react with the food reducing it’s nutritional value over long periods of cooking. For boiling something quickly that doesn’t matter. Any pot will do. We also have a new slow cooker which I will try out today. Have to go any buy some root vegies for it.

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There isn’t any strong scientific evidence indicating that there is difference between pot materials. There are some ‘internet myth’ type blogs which makes claims that metal posts are dangerous as copper, aluminium, iron etc are known to be toxic at high concentrations so there must be an association even though there is no evidence…hhhhmmmm…water is also toxic at high enough concentrations as well so does it mean that there is an association between drinking water and health complaints.

There possibly could be differences in nutritional value based on how the cookware heats and distributes the heat. A higher temperature can denature various components of a food reducing its nutritional value. Heating and heat distribution isn’t uniform to any cookware material…and us intimately on the design, construction and also thickness. A thin ceramic post one can easily burn food, no differently to a thin metal pan. Putting any cookware on a high temperature cooking surface can result in high temperatures more likely to impact more on the nutritional value of the cooked food.

The longer food is cooked the greater the potential impact on the nutritional value of the food. This is irrespective of the pot material, but the exposure of a food to modest to high temperatures. The higher the temperature, the more nutritional loss is likely. The longer the food if cooked, the greater the nutritional loss from the foods. Such there is significant scientific evidence indicating the impacts of different cooking techniques on the nutritional value of foods.

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How do you know this?

There are many compounds in foods, phytochemicals, essential oils, flavours and fragrances, that breakdown when in contact with metals. Longer exposure to metal under heat can increase these reactions. This can be shown by chemical analysis in a laboratory. That doesn’t mean that metal pots are not useful, just not as good for slow cooking. I still use aluminium pots for cooking sometimes.

Can you show me any such analysis that compares the nutritional value of the same dish slow-cooked in metal and in non-metal?

I disagree. It can be shown by chemical analysis that cooking in metal pots can change the composition of the food. Some foods are harder to digest than others & longer cooking makes it easier to digest & assimilate such foods. As I said elsewhere I still use metal pots when I want to cook something quickly such as boiling some pasta.

I was unable to find any reliable scientific evidence that this is the case. As outlined above, there are internet blogs which claim such but this seems to be views rather than evidentiary. Where evidence has been provided, it is sources which have been debunked (such as aluminium leaching from saucepans cause alzheimer’s).

If you do have some scientific evidence from a reputable research institution, I would be interesting in seeing these and having a read.

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No but it’s easy enough to see how citric acid or vinegar react to metal or glass if left overnight. I use different types of vinegar quite a lot in cooking.

@Spinner I have a few problems with this. The way that acids react with metal utensils or containers has nothing to do with how long-cooked food reacts with metal which is what we were talking about.

Also such acids have no discernible action on glass, these things are sold in glass bottles because it is inert.

Lastly there is no problem if you believe long cooking in metal reduces nutrition but if you are going to state it as a fact in a public forum, including reference to chemical testing, it would be best if there was some evidence for it.

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Not all grades of stainless steel are ferromagnetic.

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How acids, essential oils & other ingredients react in metal pots has a direct effect on my slow cooking as I often add vinegar & other ingredients to cooking. A dessert spoon full of apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar can make all the difference to a meal.
“Also such acids have no discernible action on glass, these things are sold in glass bottles because it is inert.”
Exactly my point. I should have added “as a comparison”.

So where is the evidence that these additions alter the nutrition of the dish when cooked in a metal container but do not when cooked in non-metal?

It’s in the eating of it, the flavour & the effect on one’s body. And observation of one’s health. Just because a laboratory doesn’t detect the changes in nutrition one way or another doesn’t negate that. As far as I know there isn’t a laboratory anywhere that can duplicate the effects of the human digestive system or the reactions of food in the body.

So you start off saying there are tests for this “It can be shown by chemical analysis that cooking in metal pots can change the composition of the food.” But now you say there isn’t.

It looks to me that this is all your own work. You are entitled to your opinion and to adjust your diet any way you see fit accordingly but please don’t make claims about nutrition that you cannot substantiate in a public forum. There is a huge amount of nonsense about food and diet on the internet, this includes scams trying to take our money and the innocent who are just passing on what they believe. Let us try to add to knowledge on the subject but not to the confusion.