By Irene Hayton

Aluminum is a toxic heavy metal that, like mercury, is absorbed by the body and then accumulates in the tissues. It has been linked to serious illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease. For this reason, we recommend that you avoid cooking with aluminum foil. If you are going to use it, for example when barbequing, put your food in parchment paper first, and use aluminum foil as an outer wrapping—this keeps the parchment paper closed (it doesn’t seal tightly like foil does) and prevents direct contact between your food and the aluminum foil. Parchment paper should not be heated above 420° F, so if using it on the barbeque, keep the temperature on low to medium.

Parchment paper can be found in grocery stores in the same section as plastic wrap, aluminum foil, sandwich bags, etc. It can be used to line cookie sheets, cake pans, baking pans, and casserole dishes without the use of oil or butter to prevent food from sticking, or to wrap meat, fish, or vegetables to seal in flavor and moisture when cooking. It can also be used to wrap foods in for freezing or cut into pieces to separate burgers before freezing them so that you can remove only as many as you need at a time.

See this month’s recipe for Grilled Vegetables, which uses parchment paper and aluminum foil to cook veggies on the barbeque.