Why Should You Cook Food In Earthen Pots? Benefits Of Cooking Food In Earthen Pots | Yogic Blogging

Why you should avoid cooking food in non- stick cookware?

We all know that we should eat healthy, homemade food but do you know that the utensil in which you cook food matters a lot. Today about 90% of Indian population especially urban Indians use non-stick cookware to cook their food which is like a slow poison. We tend to cook in non -stick cookware because it is convenient, time saving and requires almost no oil or less oil. 

Eating food cooked in Non-stick cookware damages your body eventually which leads to many deadly diseases. You might be unknowingly inviting serious diseases such as hyperthyroidism, hormonal imbalances, breast cancer, headaches, body aches and liver tumours.

Most of the non- stick cookware are coated with a chemical known as polytetrafluoroethylene a plastic polymer also known as Teflon which is very dangerous to health. You may have seen fumes coming out of the non-stick cookware when it is heated it is due to the presence of Teflon. If you inhale these fumes it might affect your lungs very badly.

There is also another life -threatening chemical added in some cheap non -stick cookware’s known as PFOA aka perfluorooctanoic acid. Various research shows that PFOA is directly linked to cancer and it may increase the growth of carcinogenic cells in our body as it stays in our system for a long time. We should reduce the use of non- stick pans and cookware’s as much as possible.                

Are there any alternatives to non -stick cookware?

There are many better alternatives to non -stick cookware’s in the market. Earthen or clay cookware is one of them. Earthen cookware is made from a natural soil called clay which is densely rich in minerals. So, that you may not need to always depend upon multivitamin tablets to fulfil your vitamin requirements.

Do you know that soil is one of the purest things available in this planet. Soil has all the minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, magnesium etc which is much needed by our body. In early times Indian people used earthen utensils to boil milk and rice, store water, cook curries and so on. Since at that time there was no refrigerator so people used to store food in clay pots and used it as a natural coolant.      

Traditionally in India clay pots were made by a group of people called Kumhars. If you have a look at India about 40-50 years back almost all the people used to cook their food in earthen utensils. Earthen pots occupied a crucial role in the Indian culture. But now due to urbanisation everyone has stopped cooking food in earthen cookware. You will barely find earthen cookware even in the villages of India. 

Since cooking in clay pots is a bit time consuming process and clay pots being very fragile, people have started using pressure cooker and utensils made of aluminium. Nowadays nobody is buying earthen utensils from kumhars and because of that the production of earthen cookware in India has reduced drastically.

Benefits of cooking food in earthen cookware

Cooking food in earthen cookware is a slow process, therefore food gets cooked evenly. Earthen cookware retains almost all the minerals of the food. Because of the slow cooking process food cooked in clay pot is extremely tasty and nutritious as well. Earthen pots are economical and affordable. Apart from cooking you can also store water in earthen pots. 

Drinking water stored in earthen pots is extremely beneficial for health. Instead of storing water in the refrigerator during summers you can use clay pots to store water which would be a healthier and much better option. 

Earthen pots not only purify water but also adds some minerals to it. Water stored in clay pots does not exceed a certain temperature therefore it will not imbalance your Kapha dosha unlike the water stored in a refrigerator. If you think that cooking in earthen pots are time consuming. 

I would recommend you to cook one meal a day with earthen cookware. If you can’t do that then cook at least once in a  weekend in earthen pots.

Things to keep in mind while buying earthen cookware

These days there are two varieties of earthen pots available in the market i.e. glazed and unglazed. Prefer to buy the unglazed version of clay pot instead of the glazed ones. Glazed earthen cookware are coated with harmful chemicals which is not good. Always soak clay utensils in water for at least 1 day before using it. 

Only use a mild dishwash to clean clay utensils. If you use a harsh dishwash, there might be chances that the clay will absorb it and leach it into your food since it is porous in nature. It is better to buy clay utensils from your local kumhar rather than buying it online. Handle clay pots with extra care as they are fragile and can be easily broken.

I don’t want to use clay pots, is there any other alternative?

If you don’t want to use clay pots then what you can do is to buy ceramic cookware. Though it is not as beneficial as clay utensils, still it doesn’t have any side effects. These days it is hard to find 100% original ceramic. 

Most of the cookware sold in the name of ceramic is not genuine. Apart from that ceramic cookware is too expensive. If affordability is not an issue for you then go for it.   

Conclusion

Earthen cookware is cheap and economical. Though cooking food in earthen utensils is time consuming, if you can use earthen cookware, then it is the best thing. If you are not comfortable to cook in earthen utensils at least try to store water in it. You should reduce cooking in non -stick cookware or start using pure ceramic cookware. Start using earthen cookware now and feel the drastic change in your health.