Caraway Home Non-toxic Cookware Review
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I know, these days it feels like you can’t make it to lunchtime without learning that another household product that you’ve been using every day for your whole life is actually full of toxic chemicals. But this one is a big one, so I hope you’ll stick with me: There’s a very good chance if you have non-stick pots and pans that aren’t ceramic, they could be contaminating your food with toxic chemicals while you cook.
Here’s what Caraway Home has to say about toxins in your cookware potentially leaking into your food:
A popular material that has been used in the past in such non-stick cookware is Teflon. This synthetic chemical is also known as polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). Teflon is often used to coat a variety of products, including cookware, due to its frictionless qualities that provide a non-stick surface.
The issue with this material is that it uses perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) during its production. This chemical has been linked to numerous health conditions, including cancer, thyroid disorders, and more. Other chemicals, such as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are found in this material and can cause similar health issues as PFOA.
When cooking with non-stick cookware that has these chemicals, you run the risk of accidentally ingesting it. This can happen if the coating gets scratched, as it could flake off while in use and get consumed.
Additionally, when Teflon is heated over 570°F, it begins to break down, releasing the toxic chemicals into the air, which can then be consumed.
Now, most of us aren’t heating our pans to 570°F, but I’d wager that your pots and pans probably have a few nicks, chips and scratches in them - I know ours do. And while this exposure is happening in tiny amounts, there is still the potential for a negative compounding effect when you cook with Teflon coated products on a daily basis that can’t be ignored.
We’re all cooking from home more than we used to
Since the cost of, well, everything, just keeps going up, I know we aren’t the only ones trying to cook more from scratch to combat rising food costs and control our budgets. With more people cooking at home in recent years, the safety of our cookware is taking center stage. After all, what’s the point in spending extra on organic, locally grown produce if all the health benefits are going to be tainted by toxins leaching into your finished recipe? And maybe now that you’re cooking more food at home you’re noticing that that dented and scratched fry pan you’ve had since college isn’t really giving you the results you expect in the kitchen. The last thing we need with rising food prices is to waste perfectly good food simply because it cooked unevenly and burned on an old fry pan.
Is Caraway Home Cookware Easy To Clean?
Caraway home cookware is easier to clean than traditional pots and pans, since the ceramic coating forms a naturally slick frictionless surface that resists stuck on messes. The finish feels almost polished; it is so smooth. Personally, as someone with chronic illness and fatigue, I dreaded lifting clunky heavy cookware in the sink to scrub it forever, so finding a cookware set that is easy to clean makes a huge difference in how draining it is for me to wash and dry my dishes. It also reduces the amount of water and soap I need to use to clean my pots and pans - another win for the environment since any way we can reduce our consumption of packaged products like soaps is a small way we can help the earth.
The ceramic coating also cooks more evenly, meaning you are less likely to ruin your recipe by overcooking certain areas. Less burned food means less food waste too, making this an eco-friendly option for reducing food waste in the kitchen.
Is Caraway Home Cookware Really Non-Toxic?
Yes! Ceramic cookware is totally safe. Caraway home even offers access to their full testing reports showing the safety of their products. It really makes you wonder - if something as simple as ceramic is more effective than these leading companies using toxic products to coat their pans, why do Teflon coated pans even exist? I think we’ll be seeing the end of this kind of toxic cookware in our lifetime, now that so many better options like Caraway Home are available for cooking.
Is the Caraway Home Cookware Set Durable?
If you’re worried because the word ceramic makes it sound like this cookware may break easily, rest assured that ceramic cookware isn't actually made 100% of clay. The ceramic in these pots and pans is a durable multi-layered coating that is put on top of a metal core. We are far from gentle with our pots and pans and our cookware set still looks as good as the day that we bought it. Now, it’s still recommended that you treat your ceramic cookware with care. But that’s easy to do when you no longer have to aggressively scrub your pots and pans in order to remove burnt food residue!
What pots and pans are included in the Caraway Home Cookware Set?
When you purchase the full set, you will receive the 10.5” fry pan, the 3 quart sauce pan, the 4.5 quart saute pan and the 6.5 quart dutch oven. You can also buy each piece individually if you want to build your collection over time. They just released minis of the fry and sauce pans too, which are perfect for smaller kitchen projects like easy-over eggs and gravy.
You can choose from a rainbow of colors to match your kitchen decor including cream, navy, sage, perracotta and marigold. I went with the sage for our kitchen since green is my favorite color and I love how earthy and neutral it is at the same time.
The full set also includes their custom magnetic pan rack and canvas lid holder, eliminating the frustration of trying to keep your pots and pans organized and separate while providing a beautiful system that can even be displayed on your countertop if you want. The canvas lid holder can be affixed anywhere - inside a cabinet door, on the side of your fridge or even on the outside of your end wall cabinet or walls.
Can you use Caraway Home Cookware on an induction stovetop?
Yes - Caraway pots and pans are cooktop agnostic, which means they will work on any type of stove - gas, electric, or induction! This was a big reason I wanted to make the switch, since once our electric range dies we plan to switch to an induction range for the environmental benefits, safety features and ease of cooking.
Caraway Home Cookware Review
After testing the Caraway Home Cookware set in my own kitchen (remember, we eat mostly from scratch vegetarian meals so we cook for almost every single meal) I can confidently say that Caraway offers the best non toxic cookware in 2022. These are really the best non-stick, non-toxic pans you can get.
We tested our pots and pans by cooking a wide array of dishes, from eggs for breakfast to skillet dinners. We even put them directly into the oven (they are oven-safe up to 550F), and found they were easier to clean and resulted in a more even cooking than the competition. That combined with the peace of mind I get knowing that my cookware isn’t contaminating my food has made these one of my top choices for cooking. The non-toxic frying pan gets the most use by far, since we can make such a huge variety of dishes with it. While the pans aren’t necessarily lighter than their competition, since it’s so easy to clean dishes are piling up in the sink far less often than they once did and I’m able to easily grab a pan for dinner than I already used once that day for breakfast without the dreaded sinking feeling you get when you remember you forgot to soak it in the sink.
I wasn’t sure I’d need them, but the magnetic pan rack and canvas lid holder have been an unexpected plus, since I no longer have to move a million other pans out of my way to get to the one I need. They slide easily from the rack with little additional effort, and easily fit into our space so I didn’t have to rearrange the entire kitchen to make them work. One small note - depending on the style of your cabinets, if there is a shelf that is flush with the front of the cabinet box that you are looking to hang your lid holder on you won’t be able to fully close the cabinet door. We solved this by trimming down the shelf, but there’s many other places you could hang your lid holder such as the end of a wall cabinet or on the side of your refrigerator.
Overall, if you’re ready to replace your toxic non-stick pots and pans with something safer I’d definitely recommend the Caraway Home Cookware Set. They also have a full line of bakeware including baking sheets, loaf pans and muffin tins, as well as a super cute tea kettle which I think would make the perfect housewarming gift. We’ll be using our set for years to come, and adding on to the collection as needed. I have a collection of recipes coming up that feature these pots and pans to get you inspired to get in the kitchen and get cooking! I’ll add those to the post below as they are published.
