The most commonly used cookware in India are stainless steel, aluminium, non-stick, copper, cast iron, brass, and bronze metals.
In this post, I am going to cover Bronze & Brass Cookware.
Bronze and Brass are the two cooking materials that are boasted as safe and healthy cookware. Let’s see how correct this statement is…
Brass Cookware:
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc in the ratio of 70 and 30 percent respectively.
Brass cookware also comes with tin coating (kalai). This coating is required if you want to cook food that contains acidic properties.
Brass Cookware Pros:
According to a study, Brass cookware can keep the 93% of nutrients when the food is cooked.
Where as aluminium cookware can keep only 7% of nutrients.
Brass heats evenly which makes the food cooked evenly unlike steel.
Steel does not distribute the heat evenely which makes the food cooked in it will not be cooked properly.
The Downside of Using Brass Vessels:
It reacts easily with iodin in salt and acidic foods. You must avoid cooking the recipes with these ingredients in brass
Tough to clean
The vessels are heavy to lift compare to other metals.
Over the time, say 6 months, the tin coating will vanish. You need re-tint it for further use.
Expensive.
Is Brass good for cooking?
Ofcourse YES.. but not ALWAYS… You must avoid cooking acidic foods in brass cookware without tin coating.
But you can cook any kinds of food in brass cookware with kalai.
Tips to Use Brass Utensils in Cooking:
As i already said, brass utensils tends to react with acidic substances when heated for long time.
For this reason, try to add these ingredients at the end of cooking process if possible.
Also, it is best to transfer the cooked food or recipe to steel container immediately after cooking.
This way, we could avoid food reaction to brass metal.
It is not advised to use brass utensils with kalai heavily.
My suggestion is to use brass utensils without kalai and use them to cook non-acidic recipes.
You can use other metal utensil for these kind of recipes.
You might be thinking that, why should i take all this headache? i will cook in my aluminium vessel.
Sure, you can do that. Thats your choice. But don’t forget that, any change is a struggle. Take some time to read my posts on cookware to use in you kitchen.
If you are confused which cookware should i use for which dish, i have created an infographic in my another post on Best Cookware for Health. Please read that for more clarity.tin
Best Brass Cookware to Replace your Existing Utensils:
1. MBS Multi Purpose Brass Kadhai (Gold)
Components Included: Free Cleaning Scrubber.
The usage of substances like Lime or Tamarind while preparing food in this Kadhai isn’t recommended.
For doing so, you can either purchase our Tin-coated/Kalai Brass kadhai or get Kalai done on this Kadhai itself.
2. Taluka Pure Brass Patila
Brass Patila is ideal for cooking food on gas stoves.
You can cook rice, curries and can make curd in it.
It is not a induction compatible vessel.
It does not come with kalai coating. If you plan to cook with acidic ingredients, you must get it tinted before use.
3. Nutristar Brass Handi, Tope Cooking Ware
This Brass handi has a capacity of 1 litre and diametre 5 inches.
This one is ideal for cooking rice.
4. Kesar Kunj Brass Heavy Weight Frying Pan
Brass Frying Pan can used for frying, searing, and browning foods.
It has a capacity of 1.2Litre.
Product Dimension: 10 x 10 x 5 Inches (LBH
Bronze Cookware
Bronze is known as Kansa in India. It is also known as Bell metal.
Bronze is an alloy of Copper and tin approximately in the ratio of 4:1.
It often comes with the addition of other metals such as aluminium, manganese, nickel or zinc.
Bronze cookware doesn’t require tin coating.
Bronze Cookware Pros:
The food cooked in Bronze utensils can retain 97% of nutrients.
Ayurveda also describes that, eating and drinking from alkalinising metals like Kansa vessels has enormous health benefits.
Bronze utensils can keep the food warmer for long hours as it is a good conductor of heat and retains heat well.
You can use bronze vessels for your entire life time and can even gift to your grand-children.
Safety Precautions to Use Bronze Utensils in Cooking:
Best Bronze Cookware to Replace your Aluminium Utensils:
1. Mannarcraft Mannar Bronze Cooking Uruli (Diameter 12 Inch)
It is a 2 litres vessel. It is hand made product.
It is an expensive utensil but as i already said, it is a one time investment in your entire life.
You can use this vessel without kalai unlike brass vessels.
2. Mannarcraft Traditional Bronze Kadai (12 inch Diameter)
Bronze Kadai from Mannarcraft comes with 3.5L cooking capacity.
This product is pre-seasoned and ready to use.
It is commonly used for cooking,serving food, and also for small scale cooking.
Tin Coating is not needed for Bronze Kadai’s.
3. Indian Art Villa Bronze Round Shape Bowl Katori
Bowls are used to serve payasam or any other hot served dishes.
It is best to serve and eat in bronze utensils for your whole family.
It is an excellent Tableware.
4. Yadav Craft Bronze Dinner Thali Set – 6 Pieces, Gold
Care and Cleaning for Brass & Bronze Utensils:
Both brass and bronze vessels should be cared well.
Bronze does oxidize as it is a mixture of copper & tin. Hence I recommend you to clean every 2-3 days to preserve its shining.
Try to avoid chemical based cleaning liquid or soap.
Always use organic substances like tamarind and lemon to clean bronze and brass utensils.
FAQ’s on Bronze Cookware
Ans: YES. Among bronze and brass utensils, bronze is way better than brass. Because it does not react with food that is stored and cooked in bronze vessel.
Ans: If you are cooking without citric ingredients, non-tin coated brass cookware is best to use.
You must avoid cooking citric ingredients in non-tin coated brass vessel. You must use tin coated brass utensils for this purpose.
But i recommend you to cook non-acidic foods in non-tin coated brass utensils. These days, it tough to get tin coating every time it wears off. You can use bronze vessel to cook acidic foods.
Don’t just use one metal in your kitchen and dining. Use different metals to get benefits of others metals.
3. Which is better for cooking brass or copper?
Ans: As per ayurveda, copper is a good cookware to use for your overall well being. But modern science warns us about the copper toxicity.
I use bronze and brass cookware in my kitchen.
4. What’s the difference between brass and bronze?
Ans: The basic difference is the materials used to make these metals. Both are made up of copper as a main metal. Apart from copper, brass contains zinc whereas bronze contains tin. Thats the only difference between bronze and brass cookware.
5. Can we boil milk in brass?
Ans: Usually, it was said from old days that we should not store curd, ghee and other milk produts in copper vessel. Since, brass contains copper, it will also have same effect.
Boiling milk in brass is okay but storing germinated products like curd and ghee should be avoided because of we should follow our ancestors wisdom.
6. Does Brass have lead in it?
Ans: The answer to that question is yes and no. Brass is made up of Copper and zinc. But some manufacturers add a little lead to these metals to make brass vessel.
You need to ask your manufacturer to know whether they add lead to it or not.
Conclusion
Copper or brass reacts with sour food, salt and lemon which can be harmful for the body. Therefore, they are not recommended to eat or cook these kind of recipes in these vessels. Whereas, Kansa (Bronze) does not react with sour acidic food. Hence, it is the best metal to eat and cook.
I have listed Bronze and Brass Utensils to replace your existing aluminium or stainless steel cookware.
It is your choice to decide between the two materials to use in your kitchen. Take an informed decision.
As i already told you, I use both bronze and brass cookware in my kitchen for different purposes.
If you still have any other doubts, feel free to comment below.
I can help you to decide to buy Brass and Bronze Cookware.