Don't Stick in the Kitchen

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One thing that makes baking easier these days is cookware coated with Teflon^®. Teflon^® is so reluctant to hold onto things that muffins nearly jump out of the pan when touched.

The nonstick coating on pans is called polytetrafluoroethylene - PTFE for short. It has about the same friction rating as ice. Since it doesn’t attract other substances, even toffee can come out of a pan without leaving a mess.

Besides being slippery, PTFE is stable over a wide temperature range, it doesn’t conduct electricity, and it resists attack by almost all chemicals. Because it’s chemically inert, it doesn’t taint food. It’s also used to make heart valves, because it doesn’t promote clots or cause infection.

Teflon^® is a trade name given by the DuPont Company, which accidentally discovered it in 1938. However, it wasn’t until the 1950's that a French engineer used it to make nonstick pans.

Teflon^® is made as a powdery resin using high pressure and catalysts. Because it doesn’t melt properly, it’s mixed with a binder and moulded at high temperature under great pressure. Under these conditions, the particles fuse together to form a solid block. To make a nonstick frying pan, PTFE powder is mixed with water, sprayed onto the pan, and then baked.

So next time you flip your pancake, don’t use a metal utensil, because although Teflon^® is tough, you can easily scratch off the coating.