Better Porosity Clay for Brown Sugar Savers

Terra Cotta brown sugar savers are made by hundreds of companies and individuals. However would you like to make ones that have triple the porosity and are safer? Standard terra cotta clays need to be fired to cone 06 at least (to assure they will not chip or break at the edges). Ideally, they should be fired to cone 04. That means typical porosity will be about 8-12% (as measured by the SHAB test). However terra cotta clays have an issue regarding safety: Their geological origins, by definition, make them contaminated clays. Contaminated with iron, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium in significant amounts (e.g. 1% or more). These contaminants act as fluxes, causing the clay to vitrify at low temperatures. Terra Cotta clays are nature's trace element library of the periodic table of elements, these are present in compounds that are both soluble and insoluble. The darker the colour and the less porous they are the more likely they are terra cotta.

For many years I have suggested to people that they use a clay specifically formulated to have a much higher porosity and have the potential to be safer. The vast majority of people just answered that it was not a big deal. But I think it is - the whole purpose of these discs is to be porous and making them more porous has to be better.

I am still testing, stay tuned for the recipe and what you need to know to use it. In the meantime we can help you develop a body in a group account at Insight-live.com. In doing this you will learn the secret material that makes the high porosity possible.

Related Information

Terra Cotta brown sugar savers on Amazon - you can do better

These are sold at a wide range of prices. We bought two of these and tested their porosities. One absorbed 10% of its weight in water. That means a 30-gram saver would soak up only 3 grams of water. The other soaked up three times as much. The manufacturer of that one took advantage of the extra porosity by making a saver half the weight of the others. That one is not a terra cotta, they are iron staining a mix of commercial kaolin or ball clay and adding a filler.

By Tony Hansen
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