# Vollrath Wear-ever 4305 Aluminum Alloy stock pot - use it for tomatoes?



## rockyridge (Sep 28, 2012)

Hey all,

Just picked up a wear-ever stock pot at an auction. I mis-took it for stainless - something I usually don't mess up - and bought it. My original plan was to use it for cooking tomatoes and applesauce for canning. Now that I know it's aluminum alloy, I'm not so sure it's a good idea due to the risk of tainting the flavor of the product. To a much lesser extent, there is the issue with heavy metal ingestion.

Anyone have an opinion on this stock pot? It's the one in the back. The other items followed me home as well.


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## ZoomZoom (Dec 18, 2009)

My opinion is not to use aluminum for tomatoes. A nice stainless 20 quart stock pot is about $60 and will last at least 2 lifetimes.


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## Tribal Warlord Thug (Jan 27, 2009)

nope......i never use aluminum for tomatoes......stainless is the best...doesnt put nasty taste in yer canned 'maters.


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## rockyridge (Sep 28, 2012)

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty disappointed. I got 2 bushels of apples to cook down into applesauce. Oh well, she can go on Craigslist and maybe I can find a stainless one.


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## rockyridge (Sep 28, 2012)

We canned 28 pints of applesauce this past Sunday and plan on doing another 28 tonight.

Just 'cause it was here, we tried using this stock pot for a small amount of applesauce. I took a spoonful of the cooked sauce out of this unit and another out of smaller stainless stock pot we had been using. My wife could not tell which one was which. We'll do the same tonight - She'll spoon some out and I'll see if I can tell. 

We also just finished up tomatoes -

16 half gallons of quartered tomatoes
20 quarts of juice
20 quarts of quartered tomatoes
8 pint-and-a-halfs of pasta sauce
24 pints of salsa
16 half pints of salsa

That, and 7 quarts of whole chickens - I got my first try at eviscerating a chicken. I got nothing to do bu get better at it. What a mess when you pierce something that shouldn't be pierced...

I also want to go back up to the orchards and pick up windfalls for $4 a bushel to make into apple cider and apple juice.


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