Seasoning & Maintaining of Clayware

Cooking in clay vessels has been a part of Indian tradition since ancient times and is a preferred utensil for nutritious, even cooking process. An authentic clayware is unglazed and created with good quality clay by experienced artisans. Once you buy the traditional clayware (check our document regarding points to remember before buying clayware), it’s time to season it well to ensure you can extract the maximum benefit from the vessel while cooking. Let us first understand why we need to season clay cookware. We season clay for 2 reasons:

• to remove the smell of clay
• to ensure food does not get stuck to the bottom while cooking.

How to Season Clay Cookware

• Soak the vessel for 8 hours in starch water in order to remove the smell of clay.
•  To make starch water, either use rice washed water or mix arrow root powder in water and use it.
• The cookware can be used after this. However, traditionally another additional step was also followed:

An additional optional step- After drying, apply a coat of any cooking oil and leave it for 8 hours. This step is optional. The clay ware is ready to be used directly on the stove after this. Watch Clay seasoning Video here: