Aluminium pans. Are they really safe??

Nothing to do with jam, but I was only thinking of aluminium pans yesterday. I stopped using them when my dad had alzheimers. This was a long time ago, but I wondered if there was actually a link. My saucepans are steel with brass bottoms; my son doesn't like using them because he says everything takes ages to warm up. But, as someone who's rubbish in the kitchen I don't make jam so can't advise on that one, I'm afraid.

I use a non stick pan from Asda -very large and not too dear-about one third of the price of those in cook shops. That was a couple of years ago-and I also use it for large quantities of soup.

Ikea have some mega-sized pans at a good price. They may be suitable but I have not tried them for jam. They are very good for large scale catering though

I think the link between aluminium saucepans and Alzheimers has been fully disproved. I bought a copper jam pan in a supermarket in France about five years ago. It is beautiful and light - but I cannot use it for chutneys because of the chemical reaction betwen the copper and the vinegar.

Charity shops sometimes have jam pans, donated when someone who never makes jam is disposing of the kitchen ware of someone who did.

I've used a pressure cooker for ages to make jam (stainless steel). I lost my jam pan along time ago and didn't think I'd need it again so didn't bother replacing it. I decided to make marmalade last February and needed a larger size of pan so eventually bit the bullet and bought a stainless steel one on the internet.

This is the place I bought it from and I've just noticed they have a sale

http://www.preserveshop.co.uk/jam-making-equipment/maslin-pans?gclid=CNee7qnxhbMCFe_MtAodDVgAJg.

The aluminium one is £29.95 as opposed to £35.95 for stainless steel.

My gran always said to never use acid in aluminium pans - it certainly makes the side very clean.

Happy Jam making

Aluminium is a more chemically reactive metal than steel. It will react more with acids in other words. And jam is acidic. But causes of dementia are still not known and no reason I think to worry on that score.
But ingesting large quantities of metallic elements is questionable - iron is I good for us, essential even in small amounts, but too much iron is not.
I never use aluminium foil with acidic things like lemons for that reason.

I haven't done much jam or marmalade making lately but I have a large stainless steel stock pot from M&S that is quite big enough for my needs.

: I never use aluminium foil with acidic things.."
That is very interesting Jess. Never knew that.
The only thing I do know is that the habit of adding salt once the water was boiling arose to stop aluminium pans from pitting.
It is perfectly o.k to add salt at the beginning now a days.
...Not when you use aluminium pans...........

Perhaps non stick pans we use are also questionable?
What does the heat release, once that artificial coating is boiling hot?

What was that about metal fillings in teeth? Weren't they suspected of causing dementia or something like that?

Salt!!!! We are on to sodium now? Not good for our BP.
I think fillings are have mercury in them and that has been another health scare put about on the internet for years now, without any foundation that I know of.
Any advance on mercury - working our way through the periodic table what with this thread and the one on bananas.

jess

YESS, WE HAVE NO BANANAS, WE HAVE NO BANANAS TODAAAYYY!!!!

I once worked with a registrar. He was very sceptical about all the biochemical tests we performed on patients!
He said 'we'll be wanting the serum platinum level next!'
I agree. These days we are treating the biochemistry rather than the patient!

'These days we are treating the biochemistry rather than the patient!" Yes jeni that may be true, but survival rates are still improving aren't they?

We may not like the biochem approach, but the stats show ....... it works!

Does anyone remember the Camelford water thing where the water company put too much aluminium into the water? Well I was visiting relatives at the time in Delabole a village about 3 miles away, and have always been a big water drinker. Now I am not sure if it was remotely related but I came out in a huge hot rash for about a week or so after. I will let you know if I start forgetting things!!

That was the worst water quality emergency in the UK. A tanker driver poured a load of aluminium sulphate straight into the treated water outlet. If people drank this water they would have ingested a very large amount of aluminium. It will have acidified the water and removed other metallic elements from pipes. Not the kind of trace amounts that might come from a pan.But no-one who has ever had anything to do with the water industry will ever forget it. Security at wt plants improved hugely after this event so that such an error could not be repeated. If I remember correctly there was a switch to an iron based chemical as well. The water company did not adequately warn people - by the time people became aware the problem will have dispersed.
The long term health effects are still being debated. See the wiki entry.

We were on holiday there at the time, whitewave [St Teath] and the friend we went on holiday with laughed at me because I bought bottled water that week for us to drink, but I'm glad I did. Some people were very ill. Not sure how soon after the event we were told of it; I thought it was pretty quick?

I bought DD a maslin pan on Ebay a few years ago it was very reasonably priced.

The danger of acidic foods in copper pans is real. Leaving food in unlined copper pans and eating it the following day has killed people.