In olden days, earthen pots were an innate part of Indian Kitchen. Many rural areas used earthenware for cooking as well as storing food and water. Gradually earthenware began to be replaced by steel ware and glassware. But with people becoming more health conscious nowadays, the trend of earthenware is back. Cooking in earthen pots has its own benefits and advantages.
Why Use Clay Pots?
Clay is porous in nature. When it is saturated with water and heated over the gas stove, it’s moisture content is slowly evaporated to steam. This makes the food healthy and nutritious.
Clay pots are suitable for all types of cooking. Clay pots are resistant to heat, hence the process of cooking is slow in clay pots, which increases its nutritional value as well as its taste and quality.
Meals prepared and stored in clay pots are healthy. The nutrition is better retained.
As the clay pots heat up on the fire, the retained water evaporates into steam, thus making your food tender and flavorful.
Clay utensils are easily available and moreover, they are quite inexpensive.
Benefits of Clay Utensils for Cooking
1. Heat Resistant
Clay pots are resistance to heat, due to which cooking process is slow. This helps the food to retain its moisture and hence the usage of oil is low too while cooking in earthenware.
2. Makes Flavorful Food
Cooking in clay pots ensures flavorful and healthy food as the process of cooking is slow, so the food retains the moisture and aroma without losing its nutrient value. It gives an earthy aroma to food which is cooked in clay pots.
3. Detoxifies Food
Clay is alkaline in nature. Clay interacts with the acidity in the food, thereby regulating the pH balance of the food by neutralizing its acidic effect.
4. Nutritious Food
Cooking food in clay pots make it more nutritious as it provides the required minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, sulphur and iron, thus making your food healthy.
5. Makes Tasty Food
Clay is porous in nature. So moisture and nutrient loss is much less in clay pots as compared to normal cooking utensils, which provides added flavour to the food.
Benefits of Drinking Water from Earthenware
Clay is porous in nature and drinking water from the clay pot has its own health benefits. Our soil is rich in vitamins and minerals and these properties are present in the clay pots/ earthenware as well.
1. Store Water
Clay pots are porous in nature which helps in cooling water. Clay pots possess all the goodness of earth accompanied by its healing attributes. Moreover, clay pot has the ability to cool the water.
2. Soothing for Throat
Drinking water stored in an earthen pot has a soothing effect on the throat for people suffering from cold and cough. It is good for people who are suffering from respiratory diseases as the water stored in an earthen pot is tastefully cold enough to quench thirst.
3. Improve Metabolism
Drinking water from an earthen pot or commonly known as ‘surahi’ improves metabolism of the body without being exposed to harmful chemicals like BPA which is present in plastic bottles. The presence of minerals in the earthen pots helps to improve digestion.
4. Alkaline
Clay is alkaline in nature and food we eat is acidic in nature. Clay helps to maintain the pH balance of body by neutralizing the acidic effect. Thus it is helpful in relieving acidity and gastric pain.
5. Porous
Clay pots are an excellent choice for cooking as they are porous in nature which allows both moisture and heat to circulate within them, thus making food tender and tasty. Due to the porous nature of the clay pots, the natural food juices as well as vitamins and minerals are also retained.
6. Cooling Water
The cooling effect of clay pots is due to the porous nature of clay pots. The water in the pot oozes out of the pores and vaporizes by absorbing heat from the water in the pot. Due to this continuous process of absorption of heat from water inside the clay pot, within few hours the water becomes cool.
Additional Benefits
1. Use for Creating Milk Products
Clay pots are beneficial for making yogurt from milk as it facilitates the process of fermentation.
2. Prevents sun strokes
Water from Clay pots is said to help prevent sunstroke during summer.
3. Eco-Friendly
Clay pots do not contain any harmful products nor are they made from wasteful manufacturing processes that plastic bottles require. It is eco-friendly as it is made from mud and has the goodness of soil.
4. Inexpensive
Earthenware is relatively cheaper than steelware or glassware which are commonly used.
5. Easily Available
Earthenware is easily available in the local market or else you can buy online.
6. Easy to Wash
Earthenware is easy to wash as no soap or detergent is required for cleaning. Only hot water and a stiff brush is required for cleaning
7. Earthen Healing
Earthenware possesses all the healing attributes of the earth as it has minerals required by your body such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur which are beneficial for your body.
How to Clean Clay Pots for Cooking?
Earthenware is easy to wash as no soap or detergent is required for cleaning. Only hot water and a stiff brush are required for cleaning. Alternatively, Baking Soda or salt can also be used for cleaning.
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