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I read somewhere that alluminium preserving pans should not be used for chutneys as the vinegar reacts with it and will taint the chutney. Has anyone experienced this or can I use my ally jam pan?

Any advice welcomed.........fankoo :D

It is right, better to use stainless steel. XX Jeannine

Thanks Jeanine................................sighwill have to try to borrow one :-\

Similarly, you should not use copper pans for chutneys, as the vinegar reacts with the copper.

valmarg

 :P

Blast! Was congratulating myself on finding my Mum's old aluminium preserving pan in the loft! Was dreaming of jams, chutneys etc etc etc.

Will I have to rethink now?

:'(

aluminium 'causes' cancer (sigh)
eating butter is BAD for you, if the c. doesn't get you a heart attack will(nother sigh)
don't use cling film, well it's the big c risk again, innit?.....
and so on, ad nauseum..

Katy, if it was good enough for your mum (whom I know also risks her health eating shellfish from (possibly) contaminated waters)...go on, be a devil. Live dangerously -
for 'tomorrow' you'll die...one way or another you'll die.. ;)

;D

In my close-on 40 years of making chutneys, I've never used anything but an aluminium preserving pan (Couldn't afford stainless steel when I was younger, and I've never found one big enough anyway.) and I'm not aware that either I, my family, or the countless friends I've given jars to have every died prematurely.

As I understand it, the danger is if the surface becomes pitted. (But I expect someone will correct me if I'm wrong, which I probably am.)

Further to my earlier posting, I've got some large enamel stock pots which I use for large quantities of jam and chutney.  They were'nt anywhere near as expensive as stainless steel.

valmarg

Thanks Trev! Another thumbs-up for a commonsense approach? In our family we've got my Grandmother's jam pan....now that's going back many many many years...and, of course, it's aluminium. We reckon that only one such pan is needed in a family and it's been passed round again....and again....and again....

P'raps one day, when it's obviously passed its prime, a younger member will buy another - and so the circle will continue....but 'til then....well, it's still going strong 8)

btw.....I've a set of 3 heavy aluminium saucepans I use, along with my stainless steel pans, on a regular basis. They're the 'Elizabethan' range? By my estimation, they were prob. produced during the reign of the First Queen Bess....certainly I've had then bout 40yrs - and they weren't new when I got them ;D

enamel, Valmarg.....mine didn't last cos they were so obviously pitted, enamel coming off, etc., so they got junked....common sense approach,  BUT had they appeared OK I'd still be using mine, too. I reckon it's the 'commonsense' approach that's the key here?

Cheers!

 The only reason I don't use it has nothing to do with dying Lish,I don't use aluminum because the chutney tastes different if cooked in it and we can  taste a complete difference, sort of more acrid, I do cook  in it  for other things though without worrying about the aluminium fears, it seems to be just high acid things I notice.. I can taste it in spaghetti sauce or anything with a high percent of tome in it too.

XX Jeannine

That takes me back A_M to when I was living at my parents house.  I was frying something  in an enamel frying pan, and the enamel surface started spitting, and coming away from the pan (a bit like when you're cooking Indian, and have added some black mustard seeds to hot fat).

I think I had the heat far too high, so I've been a bit careful since. ;D ;D  They seem to be OK.

Another suggestion is le Creuset casseroles.  I know, I know they are as expensive, if not more so, than stainless steel, but I bought mine in France where they are much more sensibly priced. ;D ;D

valmarg

No one will want our preserves then?

60 years in the same aluminium pan!

Maybe that's why I'm ageing so fast??

No hope for you atorl Tim...QED innit?

::) ;D

I use a lot of Le Creuset,, smashing stuff. getting hard to lift it these days though XX Jeannine

Quote from: Jeannine on August 31, 2008, 21:39:41
I use a lot of Le Creuset,, smashing stuff. getting hard to lift it these days though XX Jeannine

too heavy for me, J....mine went to a Charity shop ages ago. Loved them, miss them, but I'm sure they're being cherished somewhere ;)

Quote from: Jeannine on August 31, 2008, 21:39:41
I use a lot of Le Creuset,, smashing stuff. getting hard to lift it these days though XX Jeannine

It's the only exercise I get these days.  Weight lifting/training. ;D ;D

valmarg

Le Creusets tear hell out of an AGA top!