Healthy Cooking Options: Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware

Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware

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Keeping one’s health in mind through strong choices of Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware, along with diet and healthy cooking is almost as easy as breathing these days.

With the prevalence of Ceramic and Teflon Cookware options, along with diet and nutrition education, some of the finer points of a eating a healthy diet are lost in the shuffle.

Home food preparation offers a fine degree of control over what you consume, and yet the surfaces upon which we cook can end up lost in the shuffle with frightening regularity.

In reality, the choice of Ceramic Vs. Teflon cookware can almost be as important as what you choose to cook in the first place.

 

What Type of Cookware Should You Choose?

 

Settling on appropriate kitchenware means knowing what sort of food you intend to cook as well as the limitations and benefits of using certain types of equipment.

Ceramic Vs. Teflon pans of different shapes and materials offer different cooking experiences.  Knowing what works best for you and your health concerns, means less time fitting recipes into a limited range of pots and pans.

The joy of this is more time dedicated to actually enjoying your food.

 

Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware Basics

 

At its core, nonstick cookware exists for reasons of convenience as well as health benefits. The use of oil in cooking may boost the flavor of many dishes, but keeping your heart healthy with an oil-heavy diet isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Nonstick cooking implements sidesteps the issue by offering a cooking surface that is either coated with or made entirely from a material,  that reduces friction between its surface and the foods upon it.

This is usually done through ensuring that surface is as flat and smooth as possible.

If food is free to slide around in a pan without sticking and burning, less culinary lubrication in the form of oil or butter is required.

This cuts out a heavy dose of fats, calories and other common unhealthy components of a meal.

 

 

What is Ceramic-Coated Cookware?

 

Ceramic pans are generally formed by taking an aluminum core and applying layers of ceramic coating to it, thus promoting a proper cooking surface without the fragility that goes with ceramics.

Stainless steel or Teflon, on the other hand, is all-metal with a special non-stick coating designed to ward away moisture and prevent sticking.

 

 

 

Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware – Which Lasts Longer?

 

The downside comes with the longevity of nonstick kitchenware, which can be prone to flaking or abrasion during the cleaning process.

These surfaces often do not react well to metal cooking implements or even too thorough a cleaning after cooking.

Using steel wool on a nonstick pan is practically dooming it to the trash heap, making it important to keep your food in mind when choosing a pan.

Burnt cheese requires scrubbing, meaning you might want to avoid cheesy omelettes in your pans until you know just how non-stick it is.

 

Teflon vs. Ceramic: A Direct Comparison

 

So, you’ve decided to try something nonstick. That’s a good first step!

Choosing between Ceramic Vs. Teflon Cookware can be an issue of buying a bit of both for different applications.

This can be confusing, unless you know for a fact you won’t need to worry about the advantages or disadvantages of one particular type.

Teflon has the benefit of being an older, well-understood material that has been in culinary use since the 1950s.

The longevity and performance of Teflon has been well-documented throughout the years. Though not as hardy as cast iron or plain stainless steel, Teflon-coated pans offers a cooking surface that is highly unlikely to stick to food within the first few years of its life span.

 

Benefits of Ceramic-Coated Cookware

 

Ceramic is a much newer entry to the world of food preparation, but is no less impressive. This is made by applying layers of ceramic coating to a solid core pan.

The benefits of nonstick cooking are easily applied to a variety of pan sizes and shapes, with a greater effectiveness of non-stick boons without worrying about breaking one’s pan.

As stated before, however, both pans suffer from issues regarding longevity. Your nonstick pans are going to break down over time and require replacement.

This is important, especially if your menu often involves foodstuffs that need to be scrubbed from your pans or oils.  That can require additional cleaning rounds that take off microscopic nonstick layers.

Therefore, you’ll have to choose between the greater non-stick power of ceramic or the longevity of Teflon.

You have to know that Teflon suffers from an additional issue, such as the coating can break down and release potentially harmful gases at extreme temperatures.

Given how high these temperatures tend to be, most cooks can get away with using Teflon regularly as long as the pans aren’t pre-heated while empty or used in the oven.

On the other hand, ceramic cookware is safer because it doesn’t leach out toxins and bacteria into the foods, making it a viable option for healthy cooking.

 

 

Conclusion

 

You might find you need a mixture of ceramic and Teflon cookware to get you through your average cooking week.

Know the advantages and disadvantages of each type of pan and you’ll almost certainly be able to draw years of use out of them.

Without oiling up your food or drowning everything you fry in butter, your heart will thank you in the long run.

 

Author Bio: 

 

Amanda Wilks is a motivational writer, editor and cooking enthusiast. She firmly believes that a balanced lifestyle means focusing on good habits, such as exercising and healthy eating.

Amanda hopes that her writings will inspire others to make smart choices regarding their health and diet. Learn more about Amanda on Twitter.

Ken Weiss

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