There are rules on Gardenweb about spam, so forum members are very quick to identify and if necessary report forum abuse so a post can be pulled.

There's another thread about Saladmaster, and there are some happy owners.

Enjoy

After doing a little research on saladmaster, I came across the baking soda test. I tested my cookware at home. Not only did my low-quality cookware give off a bad, bad, bad taste, I was surprised that my higher quality Amway/Quixtar Queen stuff did as well (on closer look, it is 18/10). That stuff is similar to some of the waterless cookware on the market, was stuff I grew up with, and still looks great. What really horrified me was that my very expensive enamelled cast iron gave off a hideous taste as well (Staub, which heretofore had been my pride and joy). That was cookware that I had bought as an investment in our health! Next nasty surprise? My corningware type dishes, heated with baking soad and water in the microwave, gave off a similarly awful flavor. The control glass of warm water with baking soda tasted sweet. I then put a heavy glass into a double-boiler and heated it up in there. Still sweet, but a little different. I haven't had a saladmaster rep come to my house yet, but according to all reports, their cookware doesn't give off a metallic taste. I've heard that confirmed a lot, by both saladmaster devotees, and people that liked it enough to go out and test similar, less expensive waterless cookware. One forum participant mentioned that he tested Chefmate in 304, and bought it because, it, too, left no metallic taste.

I went to the saladmaster website and requested a call from a rep, and got a return call in a few hours. Frankly, my experience with salespeople is that they have a line and stick to it. I won't say that this was much different, but here is the interesting part. Apparently, the 316 stainless is a new thing. Most of the cookware you see on ebay is the old 304 stuff. Anyway, the rep said that 316 doesn't break down like 304 and lesser quality stainless. I asked him if there would be a guarantee on the 316 if IT started to corrode and taste metallic (logic - it may not corrode as fast, but everything corrodes eventually, right?) and he said yes. I actually haven't heard anything bad yet about saladmaster and their guarantees, in my searches (anyone with another story on this aspect?) Additionally, I ask about why the enamelled cast iron and corningware gave off a bad taste, and he answered with the same thing I've been reading in other places: In enamelling and in ceramic glazes, you will come across lead and/or boron and/or cadmium. There were actually some legal to-do's over this, and the manufacturers were supposed to lower the toxic metals to "safe" amounts.

So I go and talk to my dh, expecting to be told that there really isn't any difference betwee the two metals, 316 and 304....but no. Apparently, through his work, he knows that companies are switching over to 316 stainless steel for electrical enclosures because it doesn't corrode like 304 stainless steels. We're talking about projects that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to millions of dollars, and people are buying 316 because it makes economic sense.

The rep told me that Saladmaster has an exlusive deal with the only guys putting out this sort of steel at this time. I don't know if that is true, and I cannot verify it. And what is exclusive today may not be exclusive tomorrow, anyway. But, if true, and with the current high demand for it, that helps explain the higher prices.

One other thing I found in my search is that Johns Hopkins recommends cooking foods at temps lower than boiling for maximum nutrition. Supposedly, the vapor valve thing on saladmaster achieves this goal. I read a little bit about the critical temperatures for cooking...different foods have different critical temps at which they undergo substantial changes that impact our bodies' response to them. Other waterless cookware may achieve that same goal, again, I don't know.

So here's a question...who of you who own some 304 pieces, and have had them a while, have retested them to see whether the natural process of corrosion has begun? Have any of you retested your cookware to see if the baking soda and water test results are different after you have used them for a year or two (or 3 or 15?)

I have been diagnosed with heavy metal toxicity, and have experienced a lot of relief eating lots of raw foods, but miss "normal" cooking....you can imagine that all of this is of intense interest to me. Just thought I'd add to the posts. I know how much better I feel after I have some of that stuff pulled out of me, but I'm concerned that I'm compounding the problem everytime I make a meal. Anyway, I don't have any financial interest in saladmaster, but I know that I am going to look into it further.

As for the original poster in this link....I'm so glad you are feeling better, whether it is from eating foods that are cooked at a healthier temperature, or because you aren't adding to the toxic load at every meal. The world is so full of scams that I can understand some of the responses you got. Thanks for sharing your "anecdotal" healing. I know lots and lots of people who have had problems like including IBS, Crohn's,severe arthritis, cancer, herpes, diabetes, and more, who switched to an all raw diet and had the problems just go away. Yes, even cancer. Biochemically, I understand that they created an alkaline environment that did not support disease and let the cells function properly, and allowed the body to "clean house." Now, with my cookware tests, I'm wondering if a part of their healing had to do with eliminating toxic metals from cookware, since they weren't using their pots and pans anymore. (Heavy metals are carcinogens, and are found "at the scene of the crime" in lots of disease processes. One man with multiple sclerosis wrote a book about his quest to live a full and healthy life despite MS found that the biggest improvement he had was when he started addressing heavy metal overload in his life.) You achieved healing while cooking with a particular cookware that claims to solve two blocks to healthy living: heat-deturing of food and toxicity, and that is very interesting to me. Anyway, I don't think you are spamming and trying to sell cookware, but are simply trying to save someone else some grief, and I appreciate that.

By the way, the website doesn't really focus on the metal toxicity issue. I'm not sure if it because they don't want the FDA to shut them down, or because they don't want to lower the value of their original lines, or because they don't really believe in the long-lasting non-reactivity of 316 stainless steel. That may be a question that doesn't get answered anytime soon, too, but if anyone knows the answer, I'm curious....

In all the reviews (professional and non-professional)that I have read on Saladmaster and 316 steel
the only issue seems to be price and the odd person questioning the steel content, one verse another. I went by taste of food and tea using my old pots vs Saladmaster and the differance was big enough to convice me to switch.
Thanks for reading my input

Your toxic cookware and health risk concerns have been discussed in another more detailed Saladmaster thread that is listed below.

Dan

All the fuss over the number of plies and the actual metal composition chosen for the individual plies is all done to overcome the rather poor cooking performance of pure stainless steel. Without sandwiched plies or thick disc bottoms the performance of stainless steel cookware is pretty lousy. Its super low maintenance and near non-reactive properties is what is attractive to many people. As you have found out, the price range is quite broad for this type of cookware. Some of the asking price is realistic and based on the materials of construction. However, there are cookware MLM hustlers out there who will try to make you believer all other cookware on the market today but theirs is TOXIC and unhealthy........and they will gleefully charge you a hefty premium for their cookware to pay for those MLM commissions.

Continue searching on this forum and you will find detailed answers to your questions.

Dan

Thank you for the info on why the sandwiched plies are incorporated on the bases. I agree with the reasoning why the prices of some stainless steel cookware are so priced high - to pay MLM strategy of selling. Yes indeed, there are other cookware brands with realistic prices. Comparing all stainless cookware prices, I now feel I have paid a reasonable amount for my own set of these Carl Weill stainless cookware at a very affordable price, 18/10 Surgical Stainless Steel. I am still experimenting on how to cook with the proper Temp and technique to attain the most benefit in waterless and oil less cooking. Thanks

Sue

I guess, years ago, people did a lot of cooking in oil, butter, margarine, etc. but that's just so mid 20th century. These days, a well informed cook can prepare healthy meals with lots of preserved nutrients without spending a fortune on special cookware.

We all have our own opinions - you SPAM 'callers' crack me up. Be careful of envy.

I cannot believe the people who are so angry that Saladmaster is what it is.
So people love their pots!
What bee do you have under your bonnet? It really is something - there are a couple of you that just are so upset that people love these pots!

Yet it is so clear that the only ones against these amazing pots are those who don't own them.
The only thing wrong is the price. Oh, but they save so much energy they save thousands and thousands. Is that a dumb decision to go green??
So they are expensive. Why does that urk you so?
Cookware envy is amazing.
It really is amazing.

Dan and Marmar and alexr... don't you have a life?
Have you ever owned one of these pans?
Have you ever seen them work more than one time? Did you go to a cooking class? Did you host a dinner? Do you know anyone who has them?
Do you value energy efficient products and technologies?
Do you like fast and healthy living?
Do you like quality things?
Or are you all 'throw away' generation where life is endless and so are it's resources?

Interesting.

( yes I bought them and yes I represent them. I have been letting people come to their own conclusions about them since 1995.
I wish my car was made as solid as SM I'm on my 4th car for goodness sake since I bought them. My 5th computer... my 3rd home.... my 5th cell phone - that has cost me thousands and thousands for ... air time!

Point is, Saladmaster is amazing equipment.
Point is, bet none of you have them.
Point is, now you are going around on these sites and taking the time to blurt out turret like statements on a product that you don't own or know anything about.
Point is you have the nerve to call others gullible. Mind you, some people still think the world is flat and are waiting for the proof of anything different.....

=

First, thank you for your honesty in telling us that you are advertising here.

Second, my conclusion is that even if I were interested, which I am not, your insulting rants would have been enough to turn me off.

And for the record.......there is no such thing as "toxic" modern day cookware. None, zip, zero, NADA!!!

Real, tangible, measurable, and actual health risks come from what people choose to cook IN THE POT and not from the materials of construction used to manufacture the pot. Spending six grand for a set of Saladmaster cookware is silly wasteful spending. However, people are certainly free to throw their money away if they so choose.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

1. eating with metal utensils (hopefully not Chinese metals)
2. using metal knives
3. cooking with canned foods (the food must be stewing in all those can "toxins")
4. wrapping leftovers in aluminum foil
5. baking on aluminum pans
6. going to a restaurant on occasion (aluminum cookware there!)
7. grilling on metal grates
8. using tap water (metal pipes, faucets).

I'm not convinced of toxins leaching from cookware. But if you are, it's silly to think you're protecting yourself by spending thousands on cookware when there are other entryways all along the food path.

That ban never happened. I don't see that it was ever being considered.

I am not not holding my breathe that ANYONE will ever be able to post any metal toxicity data that it is coming from pans. Because modern day cookware DOES NOT and let me say it again to make it perfectly clear......it does not leach ANY harmful levels of ANY metal.........none, zero, zip NADA!!!!!

.........for any of you who still "believe" that it does, please provide links to that data. It is high time for this "toxic cookware" non sense to stop....unless you have credible information otherwise. IMEO....it simply does not exist.

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

The fact remains that you WERE NOT doing any harm to your body by using your previous cookware. Modern day cookware DOES NO HARM to one's health.......NONE!! Those "unsubstantiated" health concerns come almost exclusively from those fear mongers who use this tactic in order to sell their product.

However, you are 100% correct, in that you most certainly can find excellent cookware of equal or better quality than SaladMaster for MUCH less money. And it too, WILL NOT improve your health. To improve one's health, exercise regularly, eat balanced meals with everything in moderation, take a vitamin & mineral supplement, and especially pay closer attention to WHAT INGREDIENTS get cooked in those pots. There are millions of documented studies and articles that this WILL DRAMATICALLY IMPROVE ONE'S HEALTH.

Reducing the STRESS level in one's life too will improve one's health. People need to stop stressing over the materials of construction that were used to manufacture their pots and pans. Modern day cookware simply will not harm a person's health. And SaladMaster cookware certainly is no answer to a problem that simply does not exist!!

Dan
Semper Fi-cus

I hope eBay/thriftshop sales undermine all the waterless cookware sales people who prey on the gullible with their baseless claims.

Hope you enjoy your pan, Huge!