Who does not want the best pots and pans for his kitchen? However, the ‘best’ can be measured on a variety of parameters like size, color, heating ability, ease of use etc. Therefore, one may find so many bests in the market. What should be the most important parameter though is if it can cook healthy and non-toxic meals for you? When looking at these two important aspects let's see which one measures up? And why?

Which pot is 100% non-toxic?

How toxic a pot is, depends on the kind of raw material it’s made from. A pot made from conventional metals, using chemicals, glazes and enamels is reactive and leaches toxins while cooking. Cooking in such a pot contaminates the food with various metals that can oxidize in cells over time in the body, causing a lot of illnesses.

The only material known to be non-reactive is pure and primary clay. Cookware made from pure clay is 100% non-toxic which is evident from lab tests and the alkaline baking soda test. This simple home test can be performed using water and baking soda on any pot to check if it is toxic. Here’s how to do the test:

The Alkaline Baking Soda Test

1. Boil a glass of water in the cooking pot and add ½ tsp of baking soda. Boil for 5-7 more mins and turn the stove off.

2. Wait till cool enough to taste and take a sip. If you taste metals, that is what is getting into your food and your body! If it has a rubber/paint taste it is the chemicals from the glaze or enamels (like in ceramics).

As a control, stir ½ tsp of baking soda to a glass of water, and take a sip — you will taste just the baking soda. The taste of water in a pure clay pot will be similar. This shows pure clay pots are inert (non-reactive) to food cooking in them.

Baking soda is high on the pH scale (alkaline), with a pH value of 8. Most of the healthy foods we eat are alkaline. If a pot leaches while cooking baking soda, unfortunately it does the same while cooking food.

What makes pure clay pots the best?

Cooking pots made from pure and primary natural clay are the best because they cook nutritiously and are non-toxic. Food stays uncontaminated when cooked in a non-reactive pot. And this food is more nutritious because they cook with gentle far infrared heat. This keeps the most delicate nutrients intact. Eating such highly nutritious food, regularly, strengthens the immune system. This type of pure food, besides fighting infections and illnesses, can also help the body detox from impurities it has accumulated all your life. Pure clay cooks from around the world say they feel fuller, more active, and healthier all day long when eating food cooked in pure clay.