Caraway makes cookware and bakeware coated in ceramic, which is thought to be safer than commercial cookware materials. The company’s website highlights the “non-toxic” nature of their cookware, and calls their products “clean kitchenware.”
But is Caraway really safer and healthier than the standard non-stick cooking pan? What materials is it made of? And is Caraway Cookware better or worse than other popular "modern" non-stick brands like GreenPan?
In this article we'll answer these questions and more, as we analyze research studies on non-stick cookware to determine if traditional cookware is a health risk.
We'll also evaluate the materials in Caraway Cookware to give our take on whether or not it's a healthier option, and compare Caraway to other popular "modern" non-stick brands to pick our winners (and losers).
Key takeaways:
- Non-stick pans can leach harmful chemicals into food
- We can't find evidence Caraway is healthier than traditional non-stick
- We do not currently recommend Caraway Cookware
Is Regular Cookware Even Toxic?
Most commercial non-stick cookware products release gases into the air which are toxic to humans. As we discussed in our recent review of another cookware startup called HexClad, medical research has found that the synthetic chemicals used as non-stick cookware coatings pose a risk to human health.
One interesting takeaway from the above-linked study is that the alternatives to common non-stick chemicals weren’t found to be safer. So just because a cookware manufacturer claims “PTFE-free” on their label, this doesn’t mean the product is necessarily safe.
We do not recommend using non-stick pans in light of the medical research on their potential toxicity.
It seems illogical to use cooking products with questionable health effects when there exist cookware products on the market free of these potentially harmful coatings.
Is Caraway Safer?
Caraway claims to use “ceramic non-stick” which isn't particularly useful to consumers.
The outer layer of their pots and pans are coated in ceramic, but they claim to use a “mineral-based coating” to create the non-stick effect:
The company doesn’t clearly detail what chemicals are used to create this mineral-based coating, so consumers (and researchers like us) have no way to assess whether it's safe or not.
Caraway also claims that their coating is “free of PTFE” which is a popular non-stick chemical proven to be harmful to human health. But as we referenced in the medical study linked in the previous section, non-stick PTFE alternatives aren't necessarily safer.
Caraway provides no evidence that their products are safer than commercial non-stick cookware. Because the brand fails to publish information on the specific compounds used for their non-stick coating, we don't have any reason to believe this brand is worth the increased price.
We don't currently recommend Caraway Cookware until the brand clearly publishes information on the materials used in their non-stick coating. At least HexClad shares that their non-stick coating contains PTFE.
Caraway Cookware vs. Popular Non-Stick Brands
Here's how Caraway Cookware compares to other popular non-stick cookware brands in terms of healthiness and overall quality, in our opinion:
GreenPan
We consider GreenPan and Caraway Cookware to be functionally equivalent: both brands use primarily ceramic coating, and fail to clearly disclose the non-stick materials.
GreenPan is significantly cheaper, so it gets the edge.
Winner: GreenPan
Gotham Steel
We have similar concerns about the lack of material disclosures surrounding Gotham Steel's non-stick surface, as we do with Caraway Cookware.
Gotham Steel's base is titanium, which has less of a heavy metal leaching risk than glazed ceramic, as we documented in our Gotham Steel cookware reviews article.
Winner: Gotham Steel
HexClad
Similar non-stick material disclosure concerns to Caraway Cookware.
HexClad uses aluminum and fails to clearly document whether or not it's anodized.
Non-anodized aluminum is clinically shown to be harmful to human health, so we give Caraway Cookware the edge from a health perspective.
Winner: Caraway Cookware
Our Clean Cookware Pick
Lodge Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet is our top cookware pick.
It's free of any questionable chemical coatings. The only material is cast iron.
We consider cast iron pans to be the safest and healthiest cookware option. Cast iron has been used for thousands of years and is non-toxic.
Cast iron pans are made primarily from iron and steel, and are somewhat naturally non-stick because of the effects of fat heated on the cooking surface over time.
We recommend purchasing some Lodge Pan Scrapers along with the pan.
They're only $4.90, and cast iron pans can be challenging to clean for the first few uses without scrapers, before the pan becomes seasoned.
Caraway Cookware Pros and Cons
Pros:
- Beautiful branding
- Positive Amazon reviews
Cons:
- Brand fails to publish convincing evidence their products are safer than traditional non-stick
- More expensive than traditional non-stick
- We're unclear on what the non-stick coating is made of
- A video review showed significant wear after two years
