Copper cookware

[Homesteader]

I just acquired a set of copper pots and pans, most of which appear to be very old. The online sources warn of death and dysentery from their use, but I know copper was used a lot back in the day. What say the cooks among us? One or two of my new to me pieces have great tinning, a few have very worn lining, and my favorite one - a hanging pot - doesn’t have any at all.

My hope is to cook up some fine victuals fireside with these. Sure don’t wanna kill my guests, though. Any thoughts, comments, or observations?

 

[oldramrod]

Cooper is perfectly safe to use as long as it does not have any lead solder on it!

 

[appalichian hunter]

Also if any green deposits on it be sure to clean that off also.

 

[Sooty Scot]

Most copper cookware pieces are tinned these days and some better pieces were then.
if you cook tomato, or other acidic foods, the pot should be tinned because acid foods react with the bare copper. Otherwise, bare copper cookware is fine.British restriction on
Probably, it was more likely for someone traveling light to carry a copper pt than an iron one. The British control on Colonial iron and iron products also figures in.

I use a brass pot - which makes many cringe. I've read that Italians prefer brass pots for cooking rice.
I've been using it for a couple years, without any noticeable adverse effects.

 

[appalichian hunter]

I have a 60 gal. copper apple butter kettle near 100 years old, been a bunch of apple butter through it no deaths yet.

 

[Sooty Scot]

Beer has been cooked in copper for generations and your still pot's made of it. Good enough validation for me. (Nervous Nellies tend to shy from both.)

 

[Dale Lilly]

Tinning is pretty simple. Easy to find instructions.

 

[Bullit]

I just acquired a set of copper pots and pans, most of which appear to be very old. The online sources warn of death and dysentery from their use, but I know copper was used a lot back in the day. What say the cooks among us? One or two of my new to me pieces have great tinning, a few have very worn lining, and my favorite one - a hanging pot - doesn’t have any at all.

My hope is to cook up some fine victuals fireside with these. Sure don’t wanna kill my guests, though. Any thoughts, comments, or observations?

Well, you could just cook up a good meal, then invite your enemies over. If nothing happens, they'll leave as your friends, either way, less enemies.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Also if any green deposits on it be sure to clean that off also.

RIGHT
As the fellers wrote above..., Beer, acidic apples to make apple butter, stills to make fruit brandy, have all been used with plain copper without a problem. How many folks have hot water running through their copper pipes???

The sickness is actually verdigris (copper tarnish) poisoning, NOT from the copper itself. That's why the interior of an apple butter kettle or a copper brewing tank is shiny.

THIS pot would make you sick, but if cleaned up would be fine...

LD

 

[Johnny Tremain]

My mother used copper pans her entire life.

 

[rafterob]

Copper should not be used with acidic products. All modern copper pots are lined to prevent any reaction with the copper itself. You will not kill anyone but could potentially cause gastric distress with possible accompanying pain. The occasional fireside cooking should be fine, maybe just avoid tomatoes, vinegar, lemon juice.

 

[andy52]

As already noted acidic foods and alcohol don't work well with untinned copper. The dysentery part I don't get,
Dysentery is caused by bacteria that will not survive above the boiling point.

 

[Felonious]

One thing I have noticed about copper is because of the rapid heat transfer, when you put your uncooked meat or whatever in it, the temperature of the pan drops very quickly and then takes time to come back up again.

It's not really a bug or a feature, but depending on what you are cooking, your style may need to be slightly adjusted.

In my opinion, the thicker the copper, the less of a problem that is.

 

[Brokennock]

All modern copper pots are lined to prevent any reaction with the copper itself.

No, not "all."
Some are left bare copper to take advantage of that reactivity.

 

[rafterob]

Maybe I should say all "commercial" copper pots as I work in the foodservice industry. Used to be many bakers preferred a copper bowl for whipping egg whites. Health departments started frowning heavily upon that. I Worked with one pastry chef who kept his well hidden. The bowl was from the '30s and well stretched out from decades of whipping in it.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Maybe I should say all "commercial" copper pots as I work in the foodservice industry. Used to be many bakers preferred a copper bowl for whipping egg whites. Health departments started frowning heavily upon that. I Worked with one pastry chef who kept his well hidden. The bowl was from the '30s and well stretched out from decades of whipping in it.

Yes because the government people try to protect the stupid from stupid acts, so they make blanket rules. Apple butter is one of the most acidic foods out there, and it is made in straight copper kettles. Cooked for hours. Copper carbonate, aka verdigris, which will form over time IF one leaves acidic food such as tomatoes in a copper or brass container, will make a person sick. Also IF verdigris is present, and one then uses an acidic food, the acid dissolves the verdigris into the food...., which is the most common way it gets into food. Somebody misses a spot of green, the kettle isn't scoured, and then something like apple sauce is put into the kettle, which then removes the tarnish. So this is why brewing kettles and apple butter kettles are scoured bright and shiny before using.

LD

 

[Loyalist Dave]

As already noted acidic foods and alcohol don't work well with untinned copper. The dysentery part I don't get,
Dysentery is caused by bacteria that will not survive above the boiling point.

That's because he was using "dysentery" as a word to describe violent diarrhea caused as a result of ingesting copper carbonate. It wasn't the actual disease "dysentery".

LD

 

[tenngun]

RIGHT
As the fellers wrote above..., Beer, acidic apples to make apple butter, stills to make fruit brandy, have all been used with plain copper without a problem. How many folks have hot water running through their copper pipes???

The sickness is actually verdigris (copper tarnish) poisoning, NOT from the copper itself. That's why the interior of an apple butter kettle or a copper brewing tank is shiny.

THIS pot would make you sick, but if cleaned up would be fine...

View attachment 248928

LD

Been too many years for an old guy. So I may be making a mistake with the reference
I THINK it was in two years before the mast.
The crew of Dana’s ship was made sick by a green pot the drunken cook didn’t clean. When forced to clean his galley the ships sickness went away