Love that Nonstick Cookware

When many of us grew up we were just starting to see the effects of “space age technology” on everyday American life. Science hadn’t quite progressed to where it is today. Imagine that era of no home computers and no cell phones. Julia Child hadn’t even hit the scene with her TV cooking show and French copper saute pans (The French Chef premiered on television in 1963).

There was no paper or plastic bagging option at the grocery store. Cars were made completely of metal and mother’s kitchen and way of cooking was totally different than ours today. Kitchen cookware was in its historic infancy era of clunky pots and pans. Roasting pans, saucepans, and fry pans were prone to developing thick crusts of caked on and burnt on food crusts. Nonstick cookwares hadn’t yet been invented.

That all changed when the space age met the kitchen. About 1960, Teflon coated cookware became widely available and nonstick cookware is now preferred by most homemakers.

Teflon is an ultra thin, totally waterproof, super slick plastic coating which made nonstick cookware performance and clean up much better.

The first generation of nonstick surfaces were wonderful when brand new, but as months passed they scratched and wore over time, and became less effective.

There was a second wave of nonstick coatings which claimed they were more wear resistant. Their lifespan was longer, but over time they also showed wear.

We seem to have evolved in the 60 years history of nonstick cookware, but at a price.

The consumer should be aware there is controversy about the safety of nonstick cookware coatings. Critics have failed to make a definitive case against them.

The industry argues against the legitimacy of health concerns and the market is now producing nonstick cookware which is an alternative, making the concerns a moot point.

Now that the consumer public is aware of this, we are continuing to vote with our checkbooks in favor of nonstick cookware.

Newer alternative products are on the market without the suspect chemicals in the first generation nonstick surfaces.

There are a few established companies offering a different coating process, called “infusion” coating. Their coating process penetrates into, below the inner surface of the cast aluminum. Consumer advocates testing confirms this is a more durable coating process.

What’s totally new? Diamond based coatings, ceramic coatings and titanium cookware.

Testing of the newest, widely available, ceramic coated nonstick cookware looks very promising.

Technorati Tags: cooking pots and pans, cookware coating, kitchen cooking, nonsticking cookware, teflon