4 ms·

Buy an organic flaxseed oil. You don’t want to burn toxic chemicals into your cookware to leach out forever more. That sounds deeply unscientific.

jamroom 12y ago
Why is that unscientific? It's well known that cast iron gets "seasoned" by what you put in it, so if you put crap in it it's going to get seasoned with crap.
- sk5t 12y ago
  I'd say it's unscientific because it includes an unfounded / somewhat superstitious implication that non-organic flaxseed oils contain toxic chemicals. Less notable, the author casually misuses "leach."
- trubador4life 12y ago
  Sure, but she seems to be assuming that flaxseed oil pressed from organic seeds must necessarily be more pure than oil pressed from non-organic seeds. I'm not sure what the reasoning is... organic seeds wouldn't necessarily have been treated with any less pesticide, for example. The "organic" label often just means that the soil was fertilized with nitrogen from sources like manure, rather than nitrogen fixed from the air... but it's still just nitrogen.
VLM 12y ago
One aspect not discussed is you'll be breathing the smoke while you're seasoning... Its definitely an "all windows open" operation. Stuff that won't boil off beyond smoke point isn't going to be very reactive below smoke point. I'm not disagreeing with the author but agreeing with her for a different reason... at seasoning temps you'll breath pretty much every pesticide / herbicide molecule in the oil, and it'll be gone from the finish stuck to the pan. Another thing I agree with her WRT respiration you'll breathe less smoke over your lifetime if you use the best finish possible. After cleanup, I make an art form of heating up the cleaned and oiled pan right up to smoke point but not too far beyond. I've never even heard of the authors self cleaning stories about fires and warping. I guess its possible...

jamroom 12y ago

Why is that unscientific? It's well known that cast iron gets "seasoned" by what you put in it, so if you put crap in it it's going to get seasoned with crap.

sk5t 12y ago
I'd say it's unscientific because it includes an unfounded / somewhat superstitious implication that non-organic flaxseed oils contain toxic chemicals. Less notable, the author casually misuses "leach."
trubador4life 12y ago
Sure, but she seems to be assuming that flaxseed oil pressed from organic seeds must necessarily be more pure than oil pressed from non-organic seeds. I'm not sure what the reasoning is... organic seeds wouldn't necessarily have been treated with any less pesticide, for example. The "organic" label often just means that the soil was fertilized with nitrogen from sources like manure, rather than nitrogen fixed from the air... but it's still just nitrogen.

VLM 12y ago

One aspect not discussed is you'll be breathing the smoke while you're seasoning... Its definitely an "all windows open" operation. Stuff that won't boil off beyond smoke point isn't going to be very reactive below smoke point. I'm not disagreeing with the author but agreeing with her for a different reason... at seasoning temps you'll breath pretty much every pesticide / herbicide molecule in the oil, and it'll be gone from the finish stuck to the pan. Another thing I agree with her WRT respiration you'll breathe less smoke over your lifetime if you use the best finish possible. After cleanup, I make an art form of heating up the cleaned and oiled pan right up to smoke point but not too far beyond. I've never even heard of the authors self cleaning stories about fires and warping. I guess its possible...