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Bluedot Living’s BuyBetter Marketplace newsletter includes affiliate links, including to Amazon. If you purchase a product through one of our links, we may earn a commission. These commissions help us fund the great journalism that you see on Bluedot. Thank you for supporting us! |
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Dear Readers,
Late last year, you may have encountered a flurry of articles about the perils of black plastic kitchen tools. If not, I’ll summarize: It turns out that a lot of black plastic, including the black plastic that’s often used to make cooking tools, contains recycled electronic waste that can leach toxic chemicals into food during the cooking process. The initial study contained a significant mathematical error that led researchers (and reporters) to overstate the potential health risks. Even taking that mistake into account, we still don't recommend cooking with these black plastic tools. To start, we’d rather not eat any amount of electronic waste. Beyond that, these tools tend to be cheaply made and perform poorly in the kitchen, necessitating frequent replacement. And, of course, the more frequently you replace something, the less sustainable it is.
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No one (not even me!) ever liked this photo I shared to Instagram in 2013. But that doesn’t matter, because I love and continue to use almost all the tools shown. |
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That’s my 12-year-old photo above. As you can see, I’ve been serious about cooking tools for some time, and I still use many of the tools in the picture. And while I never purposely avoided black plastic, I do think it’s interesting that I haven’t seen that one black spatula in years — no doubt because it started to shed nasty little plastic bits into my food, and I tossed it. Unfortunately, that’s what you may want to do with your black plastic tools, too. Black plastic is difficult to sort at recycling centers. And, even if sorted properly, we don’t want to keep electronic waste components in the system.
To help you build — or rebuild — your collection of cooking tools, here’s a list of durable utensils that I hope will last you the next 12 years, and hopefully longer. You’ll also find two lovely recipes featuring some of my favorite spring ingredients.
Happy cooking, happy shopping, and happy (almost) summer!
– Elizabeth Weinstein, Marketplace Editor
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Stunning Wooden Tools
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Montana-based Earlywood makes sleek, functional utensils that unite the best of modernity and tradition. My favorites include the Large Flat Sauté, which works as a spatula and then some, and the Tera Scraper, a flat-edged tool designed specifically for cooking in cast iron. Next on my wish list: the Cooking Chopsticks and Slotted Wooding Serving Spoon. Save 10% on your order with code BLUEDOT (til July 6). Read our review. |
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My Favorite Silicone Spatulas
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While Le Creuset’s best-known products are its Dutch ovens, its silicone utensils are tough to beat. I still use all three of the silicone spatulas in the photo above, and not one has a single crack. Unfortunately, they no longer come in such a wide array of colors, but the performance remains excellent. Read our review. |
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Bamboo Utensils
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Certified B Corp Bambu uses FSC-certified bamboo to make its cooking utensils. Accessible pricing makes bamboo a great option if you’re looking to affordably make over your utensil crock. The extremely light weight of bamboo makes these tools an excellent choice for anyone suffering from hand pain. Save 10% with code BLUEDOT. Read our review. |
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Great All-Around Options
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A few years ago, I worked on OXO’s copywriting team, and I can tell you that the brand takes both functionality and consumer safety very seriously. Happily, you can hang onto any black plastic OXO utensils you own, as the company uses no recycled plastic in its cooking tools. The tongs pictured feature silicone tips, not plastic ones, and last for ages. I also recommend the excellent stainless steel utensils and barbecue tools. Read our review. |
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Beautiful Knives and More
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I want to draw your attention to more beautiful tools made by hand in the West. Steelport Knife Co. in Portland, Ore., hand-forges carbon steel knives with elegant, sustainably harvested burl wood handles. Their bench scraper is one of my go-to kitchen tools, and would make a great gift for the baker or cook who seems to have it all. Use code BLUEDOT and get a free Carbon Steel Care Kit ($45 value) with the purchase of any knife. Read our review. |
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High-Heat Silicone Tools
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Thermoworks — the maker of my beloved, precise, lightning-fast Thermapen kitchen thermometer — also makes great high-heat silicone tools. The dishwasher-safe, BPA- and PFAS-free silicone spatulas, spoonulas, ladles, turner, brushes, and trivets are all heat-safe to an impressive 600°F. Single-piece bodies make it easy to keep the tools clean. And they come in ten cheery colors. Read our review. |
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A Gorgeous Crock
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Many companies will try to sell you packages that contain utensils and a crock. Skip these deals, even if you’re starting from scratch. They never have enough room for additional utensils, and they’re usually not much to look at. Instead, search local antique stores or Etsy for utensil crocks. I think that vintage champagne buckets (especially those for two bottles) make an elegant and practical solution. Read our review. |
| SHOP TODAY |
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Green Garlic Soup
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Over the last month, I’ve used green garlic from the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City in a half-dozen dishes: fresh pasta with scallops, a matzoh frittata, eggs, just plain braised, and probably more (I’ve lost track). The only thing I haven’t done yet is make this glorious-looking soup. The recipe, courtesy of the folks at North Tabor Farm in Martha’s Vineyard, beckons. Don’t be like me and use all your green garlic improvisationally! Save some to make this recipe before this ingredient’s fleeting season ends.
Get the recipe.
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If you hadn’t already guessed, I’m a bit crazy about alliums, especially this time of year, when all the members of the onion and garlic family shoot up out of the dirt and show off. I love leeks — in fact, I believe they are criminally underappreciated by almost everyone who isn’t French. So, it makes sense that this lovely recipe comes courtesy of Santa Barbara–based, French-born cooking legend Pascale Beale. Get the snap peas, chives, and leeks at your local farmers market. I hope Pascale will forgive me for making two suggestions: If you can find them, look for tender baby leeks but mature chives, the ones that have purple flowers on them. Pull the flowers from the chives and sprinkle them liberally on the plate to make this elegant warm salad even more alluring.
Get the recipe.
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Want to get in touch? I’d love to hear from you. Tell me about your favorite sustainable products, topics you’d like to see covered, or anything else that’s on your mind — email marketplace@bluedotliving.com.
I’ll see you again in two weeks.
– Elizabeth |
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Elizabeth Weinstein, Bluedot’s Marketplace Editor, lives in Manhattan with her husband; her papillon, Finley; and her cats, SanDeE* and Modell. When she’s not asking the folks at Bloomingdale’s and Nordstrom to try on all of their sustainable sneakers in a size 9½, she can be found at the Union Square Greenmarket or gardening on her rooftop terrace. |
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