For as long as humans have been making ceramic objects, they have been crafting clay into vessels to store and prepare food. From the Tandoor ovens of India, to the Tanjine of North Africa, to the Romertopf of Germany, virtually every pottery producing society on the planet has a range of traditional dishes and cooking methods centered around terra cotta clay.
In North America, we tend to reserve our red clay for flower pots and planters, while doing most of our cooking in metal pots and pans. In spite of this history, many people are discovering the unique properties that terra cotta clay offers to the chef, and are creatively re-purposing our German red clay pots and saucers for a variety of culinary purposes.
The porous nature of the terra cotta used to make these flower pots allows both moisture and heat to circulate through the body of the planter, encouraging even cooking temperatures and gentle browning. Here are some of our favorite uses that we’ve come across:
- How to Make a Barbeque Grill from Clay Flower Pots
- How to Make a Smoker from Terra Cotta Flower Pots
- How to Make a Tandoor Oven from Flower pots
- Flower Pot Bread – Bread Cooked Inside Flower Pots
- No Knead Bread, Baked in a Flower Pot
- Window Box Bread
Our lawyers insist that we make the point that the intended use for all of the pots and planters that we sell is for use as containers for plants and flowers. That said, should you feel an overwhelming urge to unleash your hidden terra cotta chef, all of our German red clay pots and saucers are free of any harmful substances: these pots and saucers are lead-free, and their ceramic body is of natural mineral origin, and does not contain any heavy metals or chemical additives.
Our German red clay pots will not release any harmful vapors when exposed to heat, and that any contact between foodstuffs and the bodies of these pots and will be harmless if basic food safety rules are followed.
