Aluminum bakeware is not dangerous and can be safely used when proper precautions are taken. No need to fork out a bundle for stainless steel.
Part of being a savvy homemaker is knowing when to fork out the bucks for new kitchen equipment and when not to. That being said, I noticed a number of years ago that it can be rather costly to replace aluminum bakeware with enameled or stainless steel pans and for what?
Yes, aluminum is a toxic metal and you definitely don’t want it in your food for fear of long term health implications like Alzheimer’s Disease. But, that is no reason to toss out your perfectly good aluminum cookie sheets, cake pans, and muffin tins!
You see, aluminum, as it relates to bakeware, is only released if you scratch it. I remember this quite vividly from my university Chemistry class.
Therefore, when removing cookies and the like from your aluminum bakeware, just take care not to use metal utensils that can easily scratch the aluminum and release this metal into your food. Wooden spatulas would be the best choice for handling the food when working with aluminum.
There also is no risk from aluminum vapors when baking with aluminum bakeware. The heat used for at-home baking is not nearly high enough to cause inhalation dangers like what workers at aluminum factories experience.
Heating of aluminum must approach its melting point for vapors to be released (1220 F). My oven doesn’t even get that hot when on “self-cleaning” mode.
Using Aluminum Bakeware Safely
If you want to be extra careful, use unbleached parchment paper as a cover on top of the bakeware and have your food touch that instead. For aluminum muffin tins, use unbleached baking cups.
This same approach would be advised for aluminum foil. I see folks putting vegetables and butter in foil and wrapping it tightly to roast them .. all of which is perfectly safe. The problem arises when they open the foil after cooking and scrape the veggies into a bowl with a metal fork! This is a no-no. Make sure you use only wood or plastic utensils when dealing with foil!
Watch out for store-bought pie crusts that come in aluminum pie pans too. While there is nothing wrong with baking your pie in a decent quality pie crust from the health food store, it becomes a problem when you cut that pie with a metal knife that scratches the aluminum pie pan underneath the food!
I’ve been to many a potluck where I passed on eating a piece of pie from an aluminum pan that had been cut with a metal knife!
One last word of caution – watch out for ice cream machines. My Cuisinart ice cream machine has an aluminum interior as do many other models.
Again, this is fine and safe as long as you don’t use a metal spoon to scrape out the last bits of homemade ice cream that get stuck to the sides! A small wooden spatula or spoon works great here and will not scratch that aluminum in the least.
Options for Unsafe Aluminum Cookware
Of course, cookware is another issue entirely. Aluminum should be avoided in that case as cooking acidic foods in aluminum can leach the metal into the food.
Using fluoridated tap water in that aluminum pan leaches even more heavy metals into the food! (1)
Stainless steel cookware poses similar issues, although, for neutral pH or alkaline foods, it is fine. For acidic cooking, ceramic coated cast iron such as Le Creuset and Lodge are a good idea. I don’t recommend unenameled cast iron especially if there are adult males in the home.
Glass cookware is an excellent and very affordable option as well. Just be sure to get a brand tested to be lead-free.
Copper cookware is safe too, though it is rather pricey.
For longer cooking and acidic foods, such as tomato-based sauces or slow simmering of traditional bone broths, safe options include certified toxin-free clay pots (such as Vita-Clay), glass, or ceramic coated cast iron.
While convenient, stainless steel pressure cookers are not ideal for cooking acidic foods either.
While cookware is a bit tricky, as for bakeware, I still am using the same aluminum equipment I’ve used for years. What’s more, I have no plans to replace it with expensive stainless steel or any other material for that matter.
Teflon and Silicone a No Go for Cooking in Any Form
While it’s possible to salvage your aluminum bakeware (not cookware) and still use it safely, make sure you ditch all Teflon kitchenware. (2)
Most people don’t realize that the shiny pasta from the store was shaped in Teflon. This article explains how to identify healthy pasta shaped in traditional bronze dies instead of toxic Teflon.
Note that silicone for baking or cooking is unsafe too, so be sure to avoid that type of equipment as well. Silicone is fine for cold temperature uses, however, such as molds for candy or popsicles.
References
(1) Leaching of Aluminum and It’s Incorporation into Rice During Cooking Under Different Fluoride Concentrations in Water
(2) Why to Avoid all Teflon Kitchenware
I think the teflon have other dangers like fumes being released when heated. Kelly the Kitchen Kop has a blog about teflon dangers today:
kellythekitchenkop.com
I am not familiar with silicone soft bakeware – if you are going to replace, glass would be your best choice.
silicone…like everything that comes on the market, nothing is tested for years. they put it out there and let us be the lab rat. wait about 10 more years and see what is said about it before you use it. I use the ‘rubber’ silicone scalers but never use on anything hot. and use just to pull stuff out of mixer or such so it is very minimill. hard to if rubber these days without spending a bunch. even my kids pace is silicone. rubber just cast to much.
Your post made me look at what I have and it turned out that I have a lot of non stick bake ware, which I guess is a no no?
I have also found some, I believe, silicone muffin bake ware. What do you think of the silicone, rubbery, soft bake ware( I do not know if they are all made out of silicone)? Are they bad?
Thank you.
Unbleached paper muffin cups work well also for those aluminum muffin pans. Yes, to be extra safe, a good idea to use the parchment paper and the aluminum cookie sheets.
Parchment paper is good for more than just aluminum bakeware. I have been lining my foil packs with un-bleached parchment paper for years. I like to roast potatoes and beets in foil packs on the top shelf of our grill. I take a large piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil, then place a similarly sized piece of un-bleached parchment paper in top of it, add cut veggies, butter/ghee (sometimes with a little olive oil too) and salt, toss with my hands on top the parchment, and carefully roll up the foil pack. Works great, and the foil does not touch our food.
When you read the box on unbleached parchment paper it says it is coated in silicone. I thought you said do not ever cook with teflon? I’m confused on this. Please explain. Thank you!
Silicone is not ideal, I agree … but it most certainly is not equivalent to Teflon, chemical name polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). It is also far less problematic than food contacting the aluminum.
Most parchment paper contains quilon is a chemical containing chrome, which is a heavy metal. Silicone in unbleached parchment paper is the better option.
Sarah, I don't think we are that far apart. You can use the bakeware safely if you always cover it with the parchment paper you recommended.
The basic rule is to never let aluminum touch any food with salt or acid in it, because even a little can cuse a reaction that will put aluminum into the food.
Good point about the probiotics, we can't have enough protection against all the heavy metals in this very toxic world.
Sorry, previous comment not clear. Definitely get rid of aluminum cookware, but aluminum bakeware is easily handled safely and I have chosen not to throw mine out. Also note that regularly consuming probiotic foods and having a gut in good shape is highly protective of any exposure to heavy metals that does take place living in this toxic world.
Please note that I do not use aluminum cookware and made this distinction in the blog post. There is no reason to throw it out as long as you are careful using it. In this economy, we must make sure that we don't sound the alarm bell on every single little thing and give people alternatives to continue using products they already have in a safe manner. It would be much better for people to spend that money on REAL food rather than spend a lot of money on bakeware that is fine the way it is and just needs to be handled safely.
Using parchment paper would be the compromise, I think between throwing the bake ware out, and risking your health. The extra precaution is well worth the extra cost, effort of the paper!
thanks to both of you , Sarah and the conscientious commenter!
Sarah, I have to disagree with you on this one.
The Weston A Price Foundation clearly states that aluminum cookware should never be used.
Even unscratched aluminum cookware can leech Aluminum into the food, if the food has salt or acid in it.(Nourishing Traditions, page 66, paragraph entitled "Stainless steel") Many doughs have salt and/or acid in them, and will react with aluminum bakeware.
Aluminum pans scratch very easily, and can have scratches form the factory, transportation, simply being bumped into another pan. If you look at the surface with a magnifying glass, you might find a lot of tiny scratches you did not know were there.
Aluminum foil will crinkle and crack when bent or rolled, releasing aluminum into the food. Many of the food wrapped in aluminum foil contain acids, such as meat. I have tasted aluminum in meat cooked in aluminum foil.
I watched 3 of the people I loved the most die slowly from Alzheimers. It was horrible. The mind dies function by function. These were all brilliant people, and they lost all memory, of everybody. They lost the ability to control their bowels, feed themselves,talk, understand language, Eventually they even lost the ability to swallow their own saliva, and even food. Aluminum causes Alzheimers.
We use pyrex for baking. It is cheap,and works very well. I think the parchment paper would work, as long as it had no holes and the aluminum never touched the food.
I agree with you. and the way to replace is one at a time if that is how you can. We did it. It took 4 or 5 years. but I have none now. I do use foil when camping some tho so will take the tips to minimize those few times a year.
THANK YOU… I was feeling guilty for not getting rid of all of our baking sheets and muffin pans. I bought SS baking sheets and threw out MOST of our other ones…. this is good to hear.
Oh my! Good news about the foil. I had given up cooking food in foil because I was afraid it was unsafe to do so. Lots of good tips in this article, thanks!
Ooh, Sarah! You are near and dear to my heart!
Replacing my aluminum cookware would be nigh unto impossible right now, and you have given some great hints on how to keep what I DO have safe for my family.
Thanks,
Cindy
FarmgirlCyn
Bakeware is what Sarah is saying she uses, but she says not to use aluminum cookware.