Yay for Cast Iron: No More Teflon for Me!

Another small step was successful yesterday. I finally was able to buy my first cast iron frying pan.

We are phasing out our teflon coated non-stick frying pans and I have to admit I was a bit afraid to make the switch. I loved the convenience of my non-stick pans and I kept reading that cast iron needed all this special care, seasoning, etc.

How easy it was!!  Lastnight I browned my ground beef in it. It cooked so evenly. I coated the bottom with a tiny bit of oil first and let the pan get hot before I dumped the beef in. I thought it would stick wickedly or something, no problems at all. And to clean it, just scrub with a little hot water (no soap) and dry, add a teeny bit more oil and put it away.

Today I was eager to try my grilled ham & cheese sandwhich. Its my pregnancy craving. I've had one every SINGLE day since November. And it cooked just the same as it always did in my teflon pan! I just wiped it out with a paper towel & put it away!!

Even better, I'm getting the iron benefits which we all need, but I seem to need even more during pregnancy.

I learned that you probably shouldn't cook acidic things, like tomato sauce in cast iron as it really causes the iron to leech out & can give an iron taste to acidic things. However, after a while, once its been frequently used, this doesn't seem to be a problem. So the pasta sauce I was making was completed in my stainless steel pot. But for these purposes, I think I'll invest in a good size stainless steel pan as well.

So what's wrong with Teflon coated pans you might wonder?  This is what I've read:

Taken from the Environmental Working Group's website article:

"Teflon is the brand name for the synthetic chemical polytetrafluoroethylene (a term that does not easily slide off the tongue), or PTFE. It was introduced for commercial use by DuPont in 1946. The original version had the problem of being easily scratched by ordinary cooking utensils. Instead of getting trace amounts of iron from food cooked in cast-iron pots, we were getting trace amounts of Teflon. Silverstone, the next generation of nonstick cookware, is more durable than Teflon. It is chemically related to Teflon, however, as are all nonstick coatings in use today.

... PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid, used to make Teflon) is known to cause cancer and other health problems in laboratory animals, and Houlihan is especially concerned because in people, "blood levels are too close to the levels that harm lab animals." Additional animal studies show that other chemicals used in food packaging, carpets, and clothing break down into PFOA in the environment, as does Teflon when ingested.

There are two concerns with Teflon and other coatings: the potential toxicity of residual chemicals used to make the coating, and release of chemicals during product usage. PFOA is a key chemical in the first category. It is listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a persistent chemical and potential human carcinogen (cancer-causing chemical). DuPont maintains that all Teflon-coated cookware is safe because no PFOA remains in the finished product. But the company acknowledges that when heated in excess of 660 degrees Fahrenheit (340 degrees C), an empty Teflon-coated pan can release toxic fumes into the air. Independent tests show that during preheating on a regular kitchen stove, nonstick cookware can easily reach a temperature of 736 degrees-in as little as about three and a half minutes-and release toxic fumes. Two chemicals in those gases are linked to cancer or tumors in laboratory animals (PFOA and TFE, tetrafluoroethylene), two are potent global warming gases (PFB, perfluorobutane; and CF4, tetrafluoromethane), and one is used as a warfare agent (MFA, monofluoroacetic acid). At higher temperatures achievable on kitchen stove tops, additional extremely toxic gases are released, including PFIB (perfluoroisobutene) and a chemical analog of the World War I nerve gas phosgene.

In fact, the Environmental Working Group found 16 studies conducted over the past 50 years showing that heated Teflon decomposes to over a dozen types of toxic gases and particles. Many of the studies were done by scientists at DuPont who were looking into "polymer fume fever," a condition documented among workers making Telfon products. Symptoms (which can be confused with flu) include malaise, shortness of breath, headache, chills, cough, sore throat, and fever. Pulmonary edema, a potentially fatal condition, may also develop. Cases of polymer fume fever from home kitchen exposures have been reported in medical journals, leading some doctors to recommend stove ventilation whenever using nonstick cookware."

Doesn't sound very pleasant does it?  I had heard that teflon pans emit potentially dangerous chemicals before (you know, pet birds dying and all that) and had read that you should never heat a teflon product beyond medium heat, and never use a product that has scratches in it.

But the more I read, the more I decided that even these precautions weren't enough for me to keep using the pans I had.  I just had to make the step to buy my cast iron pan & give it a go!

I will probably have a bit of a learning curve for things like eggs & pancakes, but I'm looking forward to the challenge if it means I'm protecting our health!!