elenafea McCoy

have to agree with Leah. a pan is considerable less surface area to have to deal with than a drum- I'd first take a single edged  razorblade and see if the paint can be skinned off the inside - it may not be into the pores of the cast iron on the inside of the pan, and a soy based stripper for the outside of the pan.

I had this experience so I will throw it  into the pot. On the basis of information I had about aluminum leaching from cookware into food, I dumped all my aluminum cookware  years before my daughter was born. My daughter is gluten intolerant. When she was little I was buying gluten free bread from the health food store. She developed upper respiratory problems that upon testing turned out to be aluminum toxicity. We traced it to the bread I was buying having been baked in aluminum pans. Stopped buying the bread. Detoxed daughter from aluminum. No more upper respiratory problems ever.

Thanks to Ken for the magnet test reminder : )

if it is lighter than a quart of milk it is aluminum. If it is considerably heavier than a quart of milk, it could be cast iron. 220 grit wet sand paper (black sheets- can get at Walmarts or most hardware stores), or  if the paint is really flakey, one of my favorite weapons  is the white block nail buffer at Sally's Beauty Supply. If it is aluminum, please reconsider using it for baking food in. Aluminum pans leach aluminum into your food, and way much evidence is available connecting excess aluminum in ones food  to alzheimers. If you really can't tell what the pan is made out of take it into an Ace hardware store or a specialty store  that sells nuts and bolts or tools, and ask.

  having fun this week with walnuts on wood cutting boards and utensils, will report results in a week ..I get walnuts in the shell in the fall when the new crop shows up around Thanksgiving- I find they last a month or more. Have wondered if putting them in the freezer in a sealed container would help  preserve them? About nitrogen packed walnuts-
or nitrogen packed anything- I was told years ago  nitrogen packing destroys enzymes. In your understanding, is this true?

Sorry to get way off topic here, but when you mentioned
EDTA, I wondered if you have any thoughts on powdered zeolite. We have jet & auto  fall out in the Tampa Bay area and a friend recently had her dogs tested for heavy metals - the tests came back "off the charts." It actually had not occurred to me before, but our pets- cats esp ecially  hang out under cars walk on the ground and in cleaning  ingest probably more than people  do of  environmental heavy metals. I started giving my own brood powdered zeolite because I really couldn't find anything anywhere that would suggest not doing this.

Sorry Paul, I know this is way off topic, but just had to ask Joel if he has any thoughts on zeolite while I can...

Joel,

I never would have known this.  Thank you for taking the time , here, to explain it!

So, if  you use the  the walnut itself, all the reactions take place on the surface of the wood instead of in the bottle of oil? 

Elenafea

Thanks! Now I know the point, and I have walnuts, so I'll give it a go! The spoon/cutting board has to be "cured" before it is used?

thanks for the info and  down the road a ways I'll let you know how it works out- I saw some walnut oil today in Publix but it said made from roasted walnuts and I was not sure whether that is what I should be getting...

I assume the water is really hot and I use the dry cycle and I have never oiled the wood.  Maybe they are made of really good wood.  maybe it's because the auto dish detergent is 7th generation. maybe it's because my wooden utensils know I love them. 

I do not even remember where they came from I have had them so long.


But I will start oiling them now. What Walnut oil do you use ( brand)?

I've put my wooden spoons and slotted wooden spatulas thru the dishwasher for years. None of them have cracked. I use 7th Generation liquid auto dish detergent. Am I lucky or ignorant or both? I have a few chips and some burn marks but no cracks. I love wood cooking utensils. So what do you do to keep your wood utensils clean besides oiling them with walnut oil - handwash them? ?