Sealing and Cooking In Unglazed Earthenware Pottery

[@AncientPottery]

Some notes on this video. Crisco is a brand name of vegetable shortening, it was not my first choice but I forgot to buy lard so stopped and bought what they had on hand. The tests at the end were not scientific and weren't meant to be, just trying to demonstrate how well the pots were sealed. I will do another video about sealing soon to bring this subject more up to date with the different options. In the meantime, if you are interested in a chemical sealant which will seal earthenware 100% and is food safe check out this video about Liquid Quartz - kzbin.info/www/bejne/iajJXqeYZ998eZo

[@milkmaid4077]

Suggestion, try using Ghee to seal. It's much better than crisco. Its milk based, but cooked into just an oil. I've never had it go rancid and it's all natural if you can find a local farmer that will let you get some raw milk for the cream. 😉

[@deniecedonnafield5264]

I left the post about cutting boards....

[@XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX]

I know I'm late but maybe you'll find this useful in the future. An easier and more accurate way of conducting the test would to just measure the weight with water once you pour it in, and then measure the weight after the hour you waited 😅 Just found your channel, thanks for the "clay is just small dirt" video(finding wild clay) , I needed that

[@WastedElephant]

It would be interesting to see this test using hot water that would melt the Crisco

[@markspc1]

My grandfather and my father were farmers and they had a water clay pitcher, 5 liter, that they carried to the field. The pitchers were purposely not glazed because the porosity of the clay allow the water to evaporate and that cools the water in the pitcher (natural refrigeration).

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, that was a common way to keep water cool around here back in my grandparent's time. My mom has told me how when she was a girl everybody in Tucson had an earthenware jug of water for keeping drinking water cool. In that case you would want it to weep and sealing the pot would be counterproductive.

[@johanneswerner1140]

Yes, that's also very traditional in the Frankfurt region (Germany) to serve apple wine in summer. For the same reason.

[@stigyanblue1442]

That's genius! We forget these things because we don't use the technology anymore and information can be lost forever!

[@barbarajohnson79]

I have a terracotta clay baking dish that has been seasoned with oil the same way I seal my cast iron pans. I have been cooking in it for 30 years. I cook chicken with tomatoes, onions, garlic, olive oil, and a sweet pepper paste. Never had it leak.

[@hawhafunnyraffs5568]

@@barbarajohnson79 I was thinking the same thing. In principal its not different than a cast iron skillet. Don't need high heat. Just a default preheat on a typical American oven should be plenty.

[@philippedevienne9659]

I am chef, cooked in Mexico and India with First Nation friends. The more you cook in a clay pot , the more it builds a patina. Don’t scrub aggressively when you wash the pot. Traditionally plant fibers like grass pads or corn cob are used to clean gently and preserve the patina. The first time you cook with a new clay pot, immerse it overnight in water before you cook , that initial rehydration of the raw ceramic will help. Use your clay pots regularly , they are functional objects that give a unique flavour to food, they are not meant to be “artifacts “😀

[@AncientPottery]

Excellent tips, thanks!

[@What2B]

🤔 Like cast iron.

[@hiddenmutant]

@@What2B that's a great comparison if you think about it. Why is cast iron considered "gourmet" but earthenware is somehow "not food-safe?" Both have a built up seasoning and are porous.

[@XxZeldaxXXxLinkxX]

@@hiddenmutant I think the difference is your cast iron is presumably gonna be exposed to intense heat that will kill anything living inside your food, and this would be done everytime you use it. A clay jug, pot, or whatever could also be used with heat, but not necessarily. So if someone used it for milk, or something sugary, pathogens and mold could build up.

[@nauticdixons]

Omg, the whole truth! I've been cooking with clay pots my entire life (since back home in Nigeria) and the only time I've been in the hospital was to have my babies. I REALLY wondered why Africans were hardly affected by the Corona virus and Americans were, the studies weren't wrong - over sanitization. Earthen ware are totally safe to cook with and the more you cook with them the better they get. People have been doing it for centuries.

[@eddavanleemputten9232]

The use of unsealed earthenware/pottery in cooking is something that can be found all over the world. In Germany you’ll find the Römertopf, which basically is an unglazed pot with a lid. You soak it in water before using it to avoid it cracking during the cooking process in the oven. The idea is that the porosity is actually a desirable thing and over time, the Römertopf gets seasoned and the quality of the food made in it improves. To clean it, scouring with salt and water is what my grandmother would advocate, and then allowing it to dry completely before storing it away.

[@AncientPottery]

That's great, thanks for sharing. I have heard from people all over the world who cook in unglazed pottery, I did not know that Germany had anything like that.

[@LoonyArtDesign]

funfact: The manufacturer of the Römertopf is insolvent. The products are simply too durable, people do not buy new ones 😂

[@hetedeleambacht6608]

long live romertopf!!! 🤗@@LoonyArtDesign

[@mpedrassoli1]

Very interesting! Thanks, Andy. During the time I spent in India, I ate a lot of veggie food cooked on unglazed mud pots and they tasted delicious. They use a combination of starch and oil to 'season' the pots before using them. They soak the pots in rice water for 3 days, changing the water every day; then seal them with coconut oil on a low fire until the pots absorb the oil and get a shiny surface. I was curious and did some research. Check this lady here, she explains the whole method: Mommy's kitchen by Nisha Thaju Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I really like your videos. :)

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tips and recommendations, I will follow up on that and do some tests.

[@celiajarvis3168]

Food cooked in clay pots have a special taste. Still used in many parts world. These pots have comeback as earthenware, kind of pricey, but worth the money.

[@benjaminsoans7335]

In south India we also heat the pots on high heat by burning dry leaves and then take out the pot and rub it (while still hot) inside and out with leaves which are a bit slimy, like spinach or leaves from the cashew tree. It gives a beautiful appearance to the pot with blotches of black and green and it's also sealed and ready to cook in. Of course the leaves have to be non toxic. One con is that if we need one pot we need to buy at least two as sometimes pieces from the lip of the pot will break and fly off at high speed so eye protection is also recommended.

[@karenneill9109]

It sounds like this is a combination of the starch and the oil methods!

[@TheDudeKicker]

One point I didn't see in other comments is related to tea. In Yunnan China, porous clay pots are prized because they absorb the flavor of the tea over time. I've paid hundreds of dollars for some of these hand made pots because they really do improve the tea when aged. I'm excited about making my own teaware with your methods to see how it works with puerh tea.

[@AncientPottery]

I have never heard that before, thanks for sharing. There are many good uses for porous earthenware.

[@carolynnewilkes1213]

Mark Ross

[@ashleyrothn313]

i have never heard of seasoned tea pots before but that makes so much sense, tea pets basically do the same thing

[@wewenang5167]

@@ashleyrothn313 well that is why English people NEVER wash their teapot with soap or dishwasher...they always just rinse it in hot water to clean it because to them its blasphemous to wash a tea pot because it will ruined the taste of your tea. the English learned this from the Chinese when they were there having a fit with them about tea xD. Yup teapot is just for tea in china you do not use it for other beverage because it will absorbed the tea taste and after a while the teapot will be season with the taste of the tea and the Chinese price it.

[@chrisholds1]

I remember seeing Chinese people drinking tea brewed in porous clay pots, from matching porous clay cups and they'd pour the last few drops from each cup onto the teapot's exterior. They did this as they drank tea throughout the day as they sat and socialized. They did this every day. I was told that it kept the pot "fresh". The pots never visibly leaked and the tea was always quite tasty.

[@tribalismblindsthembutnoty124]

This comment section needs to be preserved for future generations.

[@lester93t]

Fr

[@pasajecolon5168]

I know that in El Salvador clay "comales" (griddles) are "cured" with "cal" (calcium hydroxide), the same stuff used in the process of nixtamalization of maize. A substitute is wood ashes. A paste is made with water and the "comal" is coated, the following day it is washed with water. BTW, my ancestors have lived to early 90's and some just past 100, all grew up using unglazed earthenware cooking utensils and not just metal ones. There are dishes that when cooked in a well seasoned earthenware "cazuela" and by seasoned I mean an old cazuela that has been used many many times, those dishes taste heavenly. Great video, you have gained a subscriber.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you for your insight into comales seasoning and eating on earthenware pottery.

[@tribalismblindsthembutnoty124]

what a wonderfully simple glaze! Thank you!

[@Pipsqwak]

In Colombia, they make earthenware pottery that is used for cooking. It's sealed with very fine terra cotta slip which is burnished and then the pots are fired in saggars in woodburning earthen kilns. The saggars are pulled out while still hot, and filled with straw, which burns and turns the pottery black. This pottery can be used in ovens and even over direct flames without cracking. It ends up looking like cast iron. The burnishing with terra sigilata supposedly makes it nonporous.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, the Native American potters of New Mexico do something similar. Thanks!

[@crystalross7943]

Thanks for sharing, this was fascinating.

[@tribalismblindsthembutnoty124]

is it a 2 part firing where the pot is finished then fired again with the slip?

[@Pipsqwak]

@@tribalismblindsthembutnoty124 No, it's a single firing. The pots are placed in sugars in a wood-fired kiln.

[@aycagurelman]

That is a great channel, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us. in my country Turkey, we traditionally seal the unglazed cookware with liquid oil. You put about half a cup of olive oil (or sunflower oil, whatever you have in the kitchen) and fill the rest of the pot with water. You boil the water / oil mixture on stovetop for like 10 minutes and it is ready to be used in the oven or on stovetop. Everytime you cook food in it, first you brush liquid oil in the pot so it makes a thin lining. This is how we use it and the producers (small families create these pottery) warn you if you do not “temper” it with oil, the pot can break. I think it works, because i still use the pot i bought in 2004.

[@AncientPottery]

That's great, thanks for sharing how pottery is sealed in Turkey, very interesting and useful information.

[@WhichDoctor1]

after watching this I started getting recommendations from youtube for videos of people who use earthenware pots as a standard part of everyday cooking. And vids of those people seasoning their pots. I would recommend anyone interested in this idea to have a look for those vids. Just put "seasoning clay pots for cooking" into the search and you'll get tons. This isn't some lost skill of our ancestors we have to rediscover through trial and error. There are living breathing cultures where this is current extant knowledge.

[@AncientPottery]

Amazing how removed those of us in developed countries are from that but how other parts of the world still continue in there old ways. We can learn so much from that way of life.

[@ichbinso4184]

I will probably never do pottery but since I discovered your channel I cannot stop watching. You come across as a normal person, I may meet somewhere, who is just genuinely enthusiastic about sharing their passion and there is something so human and comforting about it. So refreshing among too many channel that are over-edited to be quirky, where the format since more important than the content.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you so much, surprisingly, I am a normal person.

[@tomasbajarunas6416]

Totally agree. Not trying to be unnecessarily/artificially funny is a big plus.

[@rhiannonjohnson8295]

40 years ago when staying at the Research museum in Denmark I was told by the potter that she sealed her pots by using milk. It was soaked overnight then poured out and then the pot was baked in the oven with the bread. The black pots seemed almost as dry as glazed pots. No smell from them as all the milk solids had changed.

[@AncientPottery]

I have a video on milk sealing kzbin.info/www/bejne/j6aun2psqbiIY7M Thanks

[@catherineb.7481]

I use a wash of soda ash which can be applied to bone dry greenware or bisqueware to seal low-fire pottery. Rhonda Willers book on terra sigillata goes over the proces. In short you dissolve 1 part soda to between 3 and 6 parts very hot water and brush on. Thanks for all the passion and knowledge you share, Andy. You're an inspiration to so many people.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tip. And thanks for the encouragement.

[@mikeu5380]

Thanks, Catherine B. I am looking for low-fire glazes that are readily-available in the home, and wonder if you've come across any more goodies like this. Cheers from Japan.

[@tarbucktransom]

@@mikeu5380 When I have sealed metal to prevent rust, I used cooking oils high in unsaturated fat like flax, walnut, or perilla oil. I put on the thinnest coating I can and heat it until the oil starts to smoke, generally 450-500 F/ 230-260 C. When the oil stops smoking entirely, I put on another coat and repeat, for 7 total coats. The heat turns the oil into glass, and it will be black even if you do this in an electric oven.

[@effieinglish]

@@tarbucktransom That sounds oddly entrancing. Wow!

[@beadingbusily]

@@tarbucktransom Cast iron, man! That's my fave.

[@Pipsqwak]

So it looks like burnishing the pots really helped as well as the oil. Thank you for doing this test! I also liked that you pointed out how our ancestors ate food cooked and stored in unglazed, wood-fired pottery for millennia and somehow survived! So true! I always roll my eyes when I hear people talk about how "poisonous" wood-fired pottery is because of the ash and chemistry of firing. Such a load of horse apples!

[@AncientPottery]

So true. Perspective is often what is lacking in those discussions.

[@loril.mangold8160]

Well it can be poisonous depending on whats in your clay, if manganese is present it can be Very poisonous, Arsinic can also be in soil, and clay

[@paleotrekker402]

I asked Tony Soares about this a while ago. Using fats is literally the same method as seasoning cast iron. And we still use that material today.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, thanks. Except of course that a cast iron pot's seasoning is worn on the outside while a ceramic pot carries it inside its walls.

[@Neoprototype]

The starch method is used by both Americans and Asians. Comales are sealed with "cal" and wood/corn ashes and water. The clay cazuelas are cured with salt and masa too, then a nonstick surface made by lard like cast iron. My Japanese donabe and Korean dolsot both had instructions to seal or cure with rice paste and " burning" sesame oil. I love Earthenware and this channel is awesome.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the info and for watching my videos.

[@margaretsmith8066]

Thank you for such wonderful videos and information.

[@christopheplumm2849]

We use these in Tanzania everyday... I usually oil and burn them every week or so....

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

[@christopheplumm2849]

@@AncientPottery we also fire at very very low temps to avoid any vessel cracking when used over open flames.... this is also typical of the early American native and settlers I imagine... also there are significant health benefits to this method as it increases mineral intake

[@Zoomfreaky]

@@christopheplumm2849 I am curious about the carbon intake...which can cause cancer. Just starting pottery and finding my way. Any source you can recommend about the carbon?

[@BaconIover69]

Isn't that the same as seasoning a cast iron pan? You add oil, heat it up and the oil builds a Polymere thing ( I can't explain it very well) but it is bonded on a molecular level with the vessel. And that should be food safe.

[@catzkeet4860]

@@BaconIover69 no. You’re not heating the pot to the temperature that you need to polymerise oils which is what happens when seasoning cast iron.

[@isntjames]

I seal with 50/50 beeswax-Olive oil food safe and natural for my az pre history style earthware I make. I actually learned most of the pre required learning from this channel then experiment. Thanks Andy. ,

[@AncientPottery]

Sounds like you have a good system that works. I really do like using oils to seal, the little bowl I sealed with Crisco in this video is still holding up great, the surface is like teflon. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@isntjames]

@@AncientPottery thank you for helping me and others learn an art form. Keep up the oddity within an art to inspire experimenting. I'm experimenting with crushing stones, crystals, metal ore, metal powders, glass, quartz, emerald, jasper, silicas in clay to see reactions. Maybe high potassium water for my clay body. Simple salt water or other variables. EXPERIMENTING BABY.

[@ashleyrothn313]

do you use your sealant mixture on earthware for eating, cooking, or both?

[@isntjames]

@@ashleyrothn313 eating and drinking not cooking. It seems like cookware seals itself in my experience. But if you lookup beeswax sealing water gords it's the same principle but the wax is IN the fired clay. I figured this method by making candle holders that sucked up wax over use , then noticed they were sealed eventually unable to suck any more beeswax...water tight. Then I heated to drip off any excess then STILL water tight..cookware seamed to seal with food oil, natrualy with uses over time. Cook on coal not fire. All my opinions.....

[@andream6031]

Hi Andy, I appreciate your researches and videos a lot. Just my two cents on how to get an idea about absorption: I'd weight the pots before and after soaking them, and then calculate the absorption rate by a quotient. This way you can really compare the results. Also I'd keep in mind that a big pot would absorb more water because it has a bigger surface for absorption: that's why I think your shoe pot absorbed a bigger amount of water. Andy from Italy here, best greetings

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for that idea. I'm afraid that is way to sciencey for me, I'll let you make that video. If you do I promise to watch it and like it and comment on it and share it with my audience.

[@andream6031]

@@AncientPottery I'm no good at making videos, but I could try with some random bisque fired materials. Let's see, I'll keep following yours for now.

[@tonisee2]

@@AncientPottery I found your channel few days ago and can't stop watching! 🙂 As probably many people have said, you're an excellent teacher. There is high chance that you've infected me... ;-) At least I have a plan to dig some clay on my property and test it. Regarding measurements - I was also thinking first why not use just a small kitchen scale to estimate the water loss either in mass or volume (because 1 gram of water is 1 cm^3 is 1 millilitre) but now in this video I guess I figured out: things are (much?) more complicated with non-metric units.

[@AncientPottery]

@@tonisee2 if I cared about exactly how much water was lost, but I don’t. I just wanted a rough comparison of how well they were sealed. It would have been good to have tested them both before and after sealing too, but again. I wasn’t going for science and honestly the comparison was an afterthought. Thanks.

[@TheHangarRat]

Thanks Andy, you appear to be man after my own heart. I am a potter in the UK and have fallen in love with primitive earthernware, probably because I grew up in Africa. My commercial ware is fired in a kiln for convenience but is mainly finished without glaze. I shall be watching your channel with interest - and encouraged by your video, hope to cook with earthernware as well.

[@AncientPottery]

Very good Peter, it is great to meet you. I will check out your videos too.

[@tonysoaresnativeclays1434]

Many of the old pots were sealed by putting water in them about half way , the water would leech the minerals out to the surface after a few days. I like to use corn oil on the inside of some of mine. Also Pine needles and warm water, , let it soak and the pitch will coat it a bit. Or yes the carbon fire on the inside is pretty good!!! Great video! I love AZ, you can just start a fire anywhere it seems, not California! 😜

[@metalhead7752]

Hi Tony I love all your works. Iv been following you for some time.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tips Tony. I hadn't heard of pine needles before, I'll have to try that. We will be going into fire restrictions very soon here.

[@Wonderkell74]

I am so happy that I’ve found your channel recently. I’ve always wanted to try making pottery but I’ve assumed I couldn’t without a kiln. I’m super keen to try now. And you present your videos in such a great way that is easy for absolutely anyone to understand. Thanks!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks and welcome. I hope you find in my channel what you need to start making pottery.

[@primitivepathways]

Awesome video Andy! I'll need to seal my primitive pottery a bit more to really seal it. I sealed mine with just one coat of coconut oil on the inside only and it worked pretty well, but it still seemed to lose a little bit of water when I cooked in it. I'll reseal it with multiple coats of fat on both the inside and outside like you did. thanks so much for this video!

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome. There are numerous ways to skin that cat, this is just the way I did it.

[@deamorydeollasrecetas]

I cook recipes in clay pots. I sealed the first time with sunflower oil or with fet from pork. But Before of that, i put the pot in water for 2-3 hours. I use aromatic herbs too. I love my pots. The food is delicious and its healthy. My pots come from Perú, Morroko and Turkey. But i tryed to make one by myself too 😊I made a video with my process to seal that pot. But its in Spanish language ❤ Lovely Greetings from Germany where i am living. I am a Peruvian lady. Your new follower and i am learning a lot from you. Thanks a lot!!! ❤( And Sorry if my English is very bad 😅)

[@jamesyeh7106]

From my “experience” I’m no expert, also from what I know eating from earthenware it’s fine and safe, just like you said be mindful. My great grandfather lived until 102 thereabouts before he died, his wife to about 97, they even pickle vegetables and meats in them.

[@AncientPottery]

Definitely, our ancestors all ate and drank from this kind of pottery and here here we are. Thanks for the comment.

[@tombrown407]

Milk sealing seems to be a candidate for sealing techniques used in Europe, based upon lipid analysis of the fabrics from various periods. Either the vessels analysed where used for milk storage and then abandoned after the absorbed fats started going off, or they had a way of stabilising the milk. At the Sweet Track, a Carinated Bowl was found with a carbonised exterior residue which has been interpreted as a charred resin or paint. I'm currently planning to see if it could be a charred fat or oil used for sealing with a few experiments.

[@AncientPottery]

Sounds interesting.

[@chrisburslem2779]

Andy I love you your videos I'm Cherokee and I done pottery for twenty years but I find something new everytime I've watched;you should try pine pitch the coastal tribes in n.c.used that for their pots it works also some of the early Cherokee potters said after they eat corn they dried it in the sun and put it in their pottery they called it black ware I think it more anut creating carbon that's suppose to water proof the pottery same with bear grease you apply it put in the fire it creates carbon black color but that's what water proofs your pottery hope this helps.firewolf.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tips and thanks for watching. I have a little Cherokee myself so would love to learn more about that tradition someday.

[@blazebi47]

Thank you...I came here to the comments to see if anybody brought up pitch and am glad to see your comment 💕

[@effieinglish]

Great feedback from the wisdom of the ancient peoples. Thank you, Firewolf!

[@l.janescroggins2555]

Yes! The area I’m from had been populated by Cherokee and the red clay was sealed with pine pitch especially for storing grains. There is a very nice but small museum on the GA/TN state line called Red Clay State Park. I’ve moved a couple of years ago but they might be a good resource. If you visit N GA it’s worth a visit!! It was one of the starting points of the Trail of Tears.

[@PathsOfReason]

I love this; it reminds me of my grandmother. Thank you for this healing video.

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome, thanks for watching.

[@Jay.L_Pro]

The wait is finally over. Aren't many videos like this. Thanks Andy 👍

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, I am glad you enjoyed it.

[@brandengillette7794]

Pine sap was used to make waterproofing by native people and when heated turns into a liquid but also permeates into the pots and glass like substance when cool.

[@AncientPottery]

I am familiar with the use of pine sap, but I don't think it was used for cooking vessels because it could ruin the flavor of anything cooked in it.

[@beadingbusily]

It doesn't stick to everything that goes into the vessel? It must really cook and harder. That stuff will make a log stick to your boot.

[@brandengillette7794]

@@beadingbusily pine sap was used in Greek and Egyptian pottery for waterproofing wine vessels. Although it's supposed that it did impart a flavor to the wine. Technically bow rosin is made from tree sap. It's made by heating the sap until it separates from the turpentine and volatile liquids forming underneath. It's not sticky as one would think.

[@granmabern5283]

@@brandengillette7794 okay so you need special techniques to use prepared sap....

[@beadingbusily]

@@brandengillette7794 Oh! Resourceful! I'm always inspired by the resourcefulness and creativity of people from long before now. And also people currently.

[@philippedevienne9659]

A shoe shaped pot will braise nicely if buried in coals. Most clay pots will acomplish this. I have seen food cooked in shoe shape pots in the Sierra Juarez, Oaxaca. The ‘’ toe’’ part was placed in the coals under the flat clay metate used for cooking tortillas and roasting vegetables. The opening of the pot was next to the rim allowing to easily stir the food during cooking. The metate rests on three stones above the coals, it keeps the heat in and is a kind of oven. A very fuel economical way of cooking. I have seen three of these pots cooking at once around a metate. It allows to braise and cook at the same time. The original kitchen range with an oven and stovetop ! The cook who showed us this was the ceramist who made these pots. The meal and Zapotec hospitality were outstanding.

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome! Thanks for sharing your personal experience with these pots. Wonderful experience.

[@PJD1943]

Years ago I watched a doc that showed natural salt being tossed into the make shift kiln during the firing to glaze the item. I have clay pots seal and unsealed and I love them. I have enjoyed your videos. Very interesting.

[@AncientPottery]

You need to reach temperatures of around 1300 C to melt salt glaze. This video is about sealing low fire ceramics.

[@Peter-fo7md]

Oh mate you are a wonderful teacher! I’m amused. All of the information and clear explanations just make me speechless. I love this channel already, what a gem did I manage to find today! You’ve earned a new subscriber and probably a couple more likes :D I’m so proud of you and your work

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks! 😃

[@DennisMook-ky6lx]

Very educational mate your absolutely right we been using these for thousands of years

[@agneklimiene9484]

Thanks, very interesting. I do milk sealing in my home oven, works very well.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, I hope to learn more about this process soon.

[@yellowstonebushcraft6546]

So happy to have found your channel. It is nice to see someone preserving this knowledge. When I lived in the Ecuatorial Andes I was taught to rub ripe plantains all over a new vessel inside and out and then warm it near a fire. I suppose that would be a starch seal. It always seamed to work well.

[@AncientPottery]

Another example of starch sealing I would surmise.

[@SF-gy3oj]

This exact subject crossed my mind this morning too! You're the man, Andy!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks, great minds do think alike.

[@atomatopia1]

Just saw this video in my recommended. You know what that means - time for this channel to blow up and get the recognition it deserves!

[@AncientPottery]

Here's hoping.

[@robintait1688]

Thank you so much for explaining sealing earthernware. Great video

[@AncientPottery]

Glad it was helpful!

[@falasakari4945]

I have a tagine that I sealed by cooking coconut oil and salt in it for an hour over medium heat. The bottom of the tagine now has an absolutely shiny black patina in it.

[@AncientPottery]

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

[@portraitof]

Thank you very much for this video. I posted some of my earthenware pots in a pottery group and got a lot of negative comments about eating from them.

[@brendavanhandel8289]

I got a few also when I first posted about mine.

[@AncientPottery]

People only know what they know, it's too bad they judge what they do not know so quickly. Most potters today learn twice-fired glaze ware and are quite attached to that process. That does not mean that this is the only way to make pottery, nor is it necessarily the best, it is just one way. There is no right and wrong answers in pottery, just many different ways to work.

[@chubbygardener]

I was thinking for days about how to do that, I asked to KZbin and they gave me your instructive video. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[@AncientPottery]

Glad you found it helpful.

[@genehickman1146]

Great experiment, my kind of research. I was waiting for you to cook some corn meal cakes in your "oiled" bowl. I would think that cooking and cooking day after day in a container it would really build up a good seasoning. thank you for doing this for all of us.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, I have heard that continued use results in better results. Thanks Gene

[@mercywalschek2695]

I would think it's much like using cast iron cook ware. The more you use it, the better it gets.

[@lindareese4579]

Thank you 😊❤️ andy.y uncle's name was Andy...he was a Farmer here in Fresno CA. Owed hundred s of Acer's of Land..farmed 🍇 grapeshave fun making your earthware pots...

[@theoneandonly15]

You are a awesome man! You’ve taught me so much about clay pottery over the past few years.

[@AncientPottery]

I am glad to hear that you have benefitted from my content.

[@kobusvanzyl7222]

I wish I could show you my first attempts, weak but it serves me with pride. Thanks to you the hobby has started.

[@AncientPottery]

That's awesome. We all crawl before we run, keep at it and you will improve.

[@rustyshackleford3278]

Extremely informative, thank you Andy! Like a lot of your subscribers I don't have access to a proper kiln to make vitrified pottery.

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, I will make earthenware cool again.

[@Lunaloop92]

I will try it with coconut oil for sealing. Smells nice and coconut oil will work against bacteria

[@sheniesims7618]

What a great video. I like your way of teaching as you clearly tell us what you’ve don without all the added verbiage. Thank you so much. I just got a lot of clay I found here in Georgia or actually my boyfriend Whois a well driller found some great and brought me home a bucket so I would love a video on what to do with found earth clay.

[@AncientPottery]

Well drillers can find really great clay that nobody else can access, that's great. Thanks for watching.

[@sheniesims7618]

@@AncientPottery I’ve been checking all of your videos out and love your easy to learn approach. I hope you become a student before long. I’m really excited about learning all I can.

[@effieinglish]

@@sheniesims7618 Maybe your bf would be willing to sell some of that good quality driller clay to us. Lucky you to have such a thoughtful bf to bring on home a bucket of some! That's better than flowers!💐 I'm mildly jealous! 🥰☺

[@MrVlork]

Tank you for the informative directness, in the introduction.

[@Victoria-of1mp]

This has been very useful! I have been subscribed to your channel for a while now and all of your videos are pure gold! Thank you for your efforts into sharing this amazing information. ❤️

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for watching and subscribing.

[@brianbender3431]

Thanks!

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you Brian

[@kathleenpiper8906]

I would try sealing a clay cooking pot the same way cast iron is seasoned--by putting on a drying oil [flaxseed is best, but the indigenous people had sunflowers as an oil plant, not flax] and subjecting the object to MODERATELY high heat for twenty minutes or more. On iron, the oil will actually polymerise to an impervious hard coating if you get the time and temperature and type of oil [it has to be a drying oil--walnut or soy oil would also work] right. I don't see any reason it wouldn't also work for clay.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for the tip.

[@sarahgracesings]

Kathleen, do you know if coconut oil would be considered a drying oil?

[@littlegreenclementine]

@@sarahgracesings if you look up oils appropriate for "seasoning" cast iron or carbon steel, that's probably what you want. virgin coconut oil and virgin olive oil has a pretty low smoke point so I wouldn't say it would be a good candidate (more of the oil would vaporize than an oil with higher smoke point would), but a highly refined product might do a bit better (most people don't use highly refined oils for a "health" benefit). another good thing to note is that seasoning "recipes" often call for repeating the process to cultivate thicker layering of polymers. edit: after the seasoning process the vessel isn't going to taste like the oil used, if that's why you were asking about coconut oil

[@falasakari4945]

It does. Moroccan tagines are sealed that way using Oil and salt

[@cliffordkelly5327]

Thank you again , I’ve drank my share of water out of a earthen water canteen on the Ranch, you give us good stuff to know as we learn more & more about pottery building !

[@stauffap]

That's so cool. I was looking for that kind of content a year ago. Glad you finally answered that question. Now we know how it looks and how well it works. I like the look to be honest.

[@AncientPottery]

Glad I could help!

[@northbaysilverandgold807]

really enjoyed this, its very rare to see someone actually use the pots they made let alone go through an experimental process . Thank you for the time u put in to your videos and for sharing your knowledge

[@nadurkee46]

Useful things to know. I appreciate you sharing this.

[@rutilopata8294]

Loved your adventure today! Thank you for sharing so generously!✨🕊

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@doodlemold2736]

this channel has rly got me excited to make pots

[@AncientPottery]

Excelent!

[@reggiethepotter]

Hey again. My husband and I teach early trades, as I have mentioned I do glazed 18th century pottery, but my husband does wooden bowls hand turned on a treadle lathe. People constantly ask him if eating out of unfinished wooden bowls is safe. Wood as we know is pourous, but for centuries people ate and drank out of wooden bowls. The key is to dry them thouroughly after using. Some people suggest oiling them, but salad and olive oil can sour, he just uses food grade linseed oil. Also we encourage people to use wooden cutting boards because bacteria gets trapped in plastic cutting boards and will fester because it does not dry, whereas wood cutting boards dry any food particles and can be brushed off later. I wonder if linseed oil would work on pottery? Thank you for this research. As a potter, I always assumed that cooking use will eventually seal the pot, and we eat and drink from them long before they have a chance to leak and sweat much. Thanks for clearing this up.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks for your perspective on this issue. I didn't know they had food grade linseed oil, I will have to investigate that as a pottery sealant.

[@effieinglish]

I was always told that wood cutting boards were safer because they also have natural antimicrobial chemicals.

[@johnpecoraro1720]

Flaxseed is the same as linseed oil. food grade flaxseed can be bought in the grocery store and has a low smoke point and will polymerize at temps around 500 degrees.

[@dianescarpaci9520]

Beautiful work. Also that tree is amazing too, old tree

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you, yes, it was a beauty.

[@lisalovelylpa]

I think you are one of the video makers on KZbin that make videos of great cultural value. How about for storing dry foods like uncooked beans ?

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks a lot. Yes, this kind of pottery is great for storing dry material.

[@TahoeJones]

Watching you stumble through this presentation was at times hilarious! Great respect for your skills and dedication.

[@AncientPottery]

I didn't think it was all that stumbly, I mean this was edited, imagine what you didn't see.

[@nadurkee46]

I don’t notice any stumbling. I thought it was pretty straightforward and useful.

[@rockettony1014]

Great video Andy! Question, couldn't you also some what seal a pot by burnishing it?

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, that is mentioned in the video. The little bowl I used here was burnished inside and out and it had the best seal in the end.

[@dgassilem]

I just stumbled onto your channel and I love it! I love to learn how people were making things and lived in ancient times. This comment section is also full of awesome information. I want to add a bit by saying that where you get your clay is important, as it can contain chemical additives or, for wild clay, pesticides/other chemicals from agriculture or urban areas. If things can seep in the vessel, things can also seep out, especially with heat.

[@MissGroves]

Thanks so much, exactly things I was curious over

[@AncientPottery]

Glad it was helpful!

[@pratyt5079]

Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. The oil seasoning is very much like The way you season cast iron pans.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes it is.

[@renaissancewomanfarm9175]

Thanks! This was really helpful.

[@AncientPottery]

You're welcome!

[@philipptroger4288]

Thank you for sharing your secrets and observations with us. You are phantastic.

[@AncientPottery]

You are welcome.

[@kathleenanderson5769]

Hey Andy there is the Asian way of sealing and detoxifying the clay vessels. When they come out of the kiln, and still hot…..add a mixture of barley powder/yoghurt whey. The liquidy whey/barley powder is poured in the still hot just fired pot and it will bubble until the pot cools down. Then simply discard the whey/barley mix (compost or garden).

[@AncientPottery]

That sounds cool, thanks for sharing.

[@Amelia7o9]

I live in NM and I love your videos. It's so cool to watch and it makes me wanna try to make some items. Like bowls and cups.

[@AncientPottery]

Do it! I am coming to NM to make some videos soon.

[@airstreamwanderings3683]

Nice video, thanks. I've used an earthenware pizza stone for years and it only gets better with use.

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks.

[@Briaaanz]

@@AncientPottery earthenware pizza stone sounds like a great future project/video!

[@tealrustsage24]

Hi Andy, just discovered your channel. A few months ago, I started playing around with air dry clay and have loved every second. I then wondered if I could buy (or find) other types of clay and make my own things without a kiln. Then I found your channel. I am very excited to try my hand at making my own dishes. I thank you for sharing your knowledge. I firmly believe that in some situations we have become too accustomed to "sterile" environments and how that contributes to our weakened immune systems (as a society we are weaker - of course, there is a myriad of reasons that can cause this). Just wondering out loud. Thanks again for the tutorials!

[@TaeKArt-ge2qb]

Mr Andy are you a mind reader? 😂😂 I was just about to look this up when you posted it. Right on time, Thankyou 😄

[@AncientPottery]

Great, I'm glad to help.

[@aameianoite]

Assim, são pessoas como você que me inspiram a continuar na cerâmica! Obrigada de verdade.

[@AncientPottery]

Você é tão bem-vindo

[@brentons857]

I’ve heard of beeswax being used in Georgian qvevris for holding/aging wine. I’m sure it would melt if heated though

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, I think wax would be great in a water jar or anything else that was holding something relatively cool.

[@Chebva]

I really like your channel. It's very unique.

[@werewolf74]

The grease seems to be like seasoning cast iron. A pitch or bees wax would burn off or melt, but if you mixed the grease with charcoal or even just work charcoal around the inside pores. It would hold up to the heat and even be a little antibacterial.

[@AncientPottery]

Great tip, thanks

[@kauairalph108]

I love your videos 👏 I gather clay and fire it on the beach here on west Kauai. Your videos have taught me so much about sealing. I coil in different size bowls. I am going to try coconut oil. Thank you so much 🙏

[@aleciapowell]

We oil and heat our cast iron exactly the same way... every few uses. I was taught by my grandmother. It seals and protects the vessel.

[@AncientPottery]

That's right. Except of course that the seasoning on cast iron it completely on the outside while with earthenware it is inside the vessel walls. But the principle is the same.

[@aleciapowell]

@@AncientPottery very true! My grandmother told me it "kept it seasoned" and that it wouldn't rust or get contaminates. I'm a nurse now... and lots of years of physical anthropology and human physiology in between... but I still understand the core of what she was saying. It formed a protective barrier. And I am going to be clay-gathering and pot-forming and outdoor firing 🔥 Because you and Tony Soares taught me how! I'm grateful for that connection to our past and the practical application you are making of it. It's fascinating and important work. I'm a big fan!

[@karenbearden6198]

Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge.

[@AncientPottery]

My pleasure!

[@androidexvi745]

If I only want to use it to store water, could it work with beeswax? heating it just enough to make it fluid and distribute it evenly throughout the interior

[@AncientPottery]

Maybe, it sounds like it would be worth a try

[@williamschleser6663]

Andy, your honest, your true, your my man!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks!

[@zenaakers7469]

I thought bees wax maybe a contender as a good seal for pottery. I love these videos, thank you, I have some wild clay I made from my own garden. onward to making a pot now, with your advice.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes some people have suggested bees wax but I have not experimented with it. I feel that like some other things bees wax might not work well in a cooking pot as it is flammable and can liquify and drain out of the pot. Thanks for watching.

[@ashleyrothn313]

bees wax is really good for wood, but it has to be reapplied occasionally, idk if other types of earthware sealant are permanent tho

[@pigfigjig]

Easy to watch and intelligent content

[@AncientPottery]

Thank you so much.

[@Lou.B]

Hello! I just discovered your channel and I'm enjoying the videos very much and your instruction on working with clay. I wondered what you thought of an idea I had for improving low-fire sealing. After burnishing, how about dunking the pieces in slip a couple of times, with plenty of drying time in between, and then firing? Perhaps that would slow down the clay in the body from soaking up the liquid contents? Thanks for your interesting work!

[@AncientPottery]

Thanks Lou! I do slip and burnish pots to help seal them and it works pretty good. I wouldn't "dunk" the unfired pots in slip though, adding that much moisture to a dry pot would cause it to fall to pieces pretty quickly

[@lukepippin4781]

The bigger jar also exposes more surface area of the water because it’s more spread out, allowing more evaporation regardless of the jar material.

[@chwastozercyancientslowfoo205]

Andrew, great video, big thx for sharing. Firstly, we want to say, we admire your work. In our work, we focus on our local traditions by replicating ancient food concepts, but this is no barrier in being fascinated with other cultures.The international & multicultural context is crucial to catch the specifics of the local concepts. We all share one human culture, after all, and yet we differ in beautiful ways. 🟢 Three thoughts had we & we want to share it too, if you don't mind. But we leave one (about food safety and microbial laboratory tests of ancient pottery) for the next comment, not to make this one any longer / it's so long anyway, sorry:) 🟢 1. The shoe pot - what an interesting shape! We'll definitely watch you vid about it. We just had a thought, that when the ratio cornmeal/water is low and the corn-soup is thin, the whole corn is pushed up by boiling "bubbles" and goes up to the top leaving more water bottom down. So actually not much starch down there. Perhaps making the ratio higher and making the soup thicker by adding more cornmeal would keep more corn=starch at the bottom and then it would seal the lower part better. What do you think about it? 🟢 2. Medieval and ancient sealing method from our area, Slavic Poland, was by popping a bowl overall into a big pot of boiling 'żur' (zhur). #Żur (or diminuitive #żurek ) is one of the most ancient soups of Slavonic area. It is made of lactofermented rye ('zakwas' = sourdough), seasoned with herbs (garlic & mayoran) and dominantly with any local fat, depending on era & location: boar, deer or pig lard, butter, poppy, hemp or flax oil. So this was sort of 2in1, in terms of the methods you described. Transfering it into the native American experience, it would be probably using fattened cornmeal soup for this purpose, wouldn't it? 🟢 All the best, Greetings from Poland 🇵🇱 Anna, Marek, Tomasz, Monika

[@AncientPottery]

"We all share one human culture, after all, and yet we differ in beautiful ways." - I couldn't agree more. Much love and respect to my friends doing similar work in Europe and elsewhere. 1. perhaps this is so. Maybe allowing the cornmeal water to boil away without burning would be helpful. 2. Awesome info. yes that makes sense. Thanks so much for these thoughtful comments.

[@LissieMac]

Are you from Texas? I was raised on Ranch Style Beans, hmmmm hmmmm good for the last 70yrs!! Enjoyed your video, used to go yo Big Bend National Park to "borrow " clay! Lol Took ceramics at Sul Ross Stats University in Alpine, Texas & lucky enough to find a variety of colors in the Chihuahuan Desert.

[@AncientPottery]

No, I have never lived in Texas but all around it, have lived in Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arizona. I had a student in my last workshop who lived in Marfa, that's down in that same country.

[@paulpritchard1980]

Hello Andy I have an idea for sealing earthenware. You can't cook in it though. But if you were going to put something in the fridge like milk water or juice it should work. Try Coating the inside of the pot with beeswax. Beeswax is hydrophobic which means it repels water very well. You could also use it for its original intention, storing honey if you didn't have any glass jars. The beeswax Coating can be replaced by placing the vessel upside down on a tray in the oven and giving it a low heat. Beeswax melts that's why you can't cook with it. It's hard to get much more food safe than beeswax.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes I think beeswax would do the trick. I have a video coming out next week about sealing pottery where I use a product I bought from the hardware store that is made from food grade mineral oil and beeswax

[@morganseaRSM]

This is a great video, thank you! The only thing I would have liked to see is taking the water measurement by weight versus by volume. Weigh the pot and the water both, separately, before adding the water and after emptying. This whole idea is fascinating and my kids and I want to give this a try! I'm new to your channel but if you have any videos on making planters, I can't wait to see them. Awesome!

[@AncientPottery]

No, I have never mad planters before, but the process would be the same.

[@claycool9435]

I love your videos! Did you weave those baskets on the shelves behind you, too?

[@AncientPottery]

No, I don't know how to weave baskets

[@SuperDerek]

Great video, really got my mind buzzing! The method of sealing the pottery using fat is very similar to the process of seasoning a cast-iron skillet. The process of burning fats onto and into the pores of a pot and a cast iron pan build up thin polymer layers that over time can in fact entirely seal pottery make them food-safe. I could easily see this emerging over time the same way seasoning skillets emerged over time. By repeatedly heating up the pottery and earthenware to sterilize them, naturally greasy foods would gradually coat plates and bowls and maybe slowly turn rancid. Heat them up to cleanse them in fire turns the fats to polymer layers. Over dozens of uses thick coatings would gradually build up creating increasingly more effective seals (and in turn low-stick surfaces.) Eventually that became the norm for cast-iron cookery, and I bet something similar would have also occurred through earthenware! Super cool! Using crisco was probably a great little accident. Vegetable based oils seem to have better rates of polymerization than animal based fats. If you wanted to really leverage this in the future, burn more oils onto each pot, heat them until all of the oil stops smoking, and allow to slowly cool and cure into the pores of the pottery. Regarding the shoe pot, I suspect some of the difference we saw in water loss was due to the water's surface larger area within the pot (both water to air surface and water to pot surface contact,) that increased the amount of water lost to absorption and vapor.

[@Salsmachev]

I don't know how well it would work for pottery, but the woodworker in me says to just throw a few coats of shellac on that. As long as you're not subjecting it to any solvents like alcohol, I'd expect that to work reasonably well.

[@AncientPottery]

As long as it is food safe, absolutely, that is similar to what a lot of the ancient people used.

[@simoncardie9371]

My garden has a very high clay content. Thanks to your channel, I now know what to do with it!

[@Clueblue109]

I was wondering if you could do the fat sealing method in the oven or if you have to do it over a fire? I was also wondering if you could sterilize the earthenware in an oven or if they needed hotter temperatures that only a fire could get to for the sterilization? Thank you for all the knowledge you share.

[@AncientPottery]

Yes, my sealing methods could just as easily be done in an oven or stove top but it makes a more interesting video to do it over an open fire. And yes, you could sterilize in an oven too.

[@Itried20takennames]

Yup, the not-sealing is also an advantage in some cases. I am here because I want to make an “olla” - a vessel buried near garden plants to slowly leach out water at root level, which is often better than blasting the top roots with a hose. Or others said earthernware pots were used as early cooling, slowly releasing the water to air in a room, etc.

[@asadzahid8650]

Hey Andy i would love to know how do you glaze(transparent) your pottery. In Pakistan we use recycled waste glass powder to glaze them.

[@AncientPottery]

Interesting. I make unglazed earthenware and have never made glazed pottery.

[@myth-termoth1621]

Well that is something that i was thinking about trying out to see if it would work. Apparently its do-able, cool.

[@violetlight8138]

I used to cook in a terracotta casserole pot with a lid that you had to soak in water first for an hour. Then I'd put a chicken in it with some veggies and maybe a little water and put it in the oven. It was really nice. Cleaning it after was tricky, but it worked great.