Hobbies And Interests
Lead Paint
Vintage pickling crocks come in a wide array of sizes, colors and shapes. Online auction sites, antique stores and yard sales offer styles that suit a variety of budgets and needs, from the functional to the purely decorative. Even damaged crocks can be charming as decoration; just don't use damaged crocks or those with lead-based paint for food preparation.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to determine whether a vintage crock contains lead-based paint by looking at it, and vintage crocks commonly do. Lead is hazardous to your health. Ingesting it eventually causes brain damage and other serious physical dysfunction. The best way to determine whether your crock contains lead-based paint is to have it tested in a laboratory. Home-testing kits are available, but the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has not evaluated them, and recommends sending questionable paint to a lab for analysis. Tests usually run from $20 to $40. If your pickling crock contains lead, use it for decorative purposes only.
Considerations
When deciding whether a vintage pickling crock is safe, consider how often you want to use the crock, and for what purpose. Are you displaying the crock to enhance the décor of your kitchen? A chipped or cracked crock may be fine. But for pickling, a sturdy, intact and lead-free crock is necessary. Do not place a delicate crock in a location where children or pets could accidentally knock it over. If you collect crocks with seasonal designs, consider whether you have space in a basement, attic or pantry to safely store them when not on display. Or perhaps you would like to invest in an extra cabinet or shelving to display your entire collection.
Potential
Collecting vintage pickling crocks is safe and fun when you know how to evaluate their potential and use them for their appropriate purposes. Use lead-free vintage pickling crocks for pickling cucumbers or sauerkraut. Many old family recipes are available in cookbooks and online; experimenting with these can be a safe, inexpensive and satisfying activity. Use crocks with lead-based paint, or those about which you are uncertain, to display fresh or fake flower arrangements. You may also store nonfood items in crocks.
Expert Insight
Vintage pickling crocks can be as functional now as they were a hundred years ago. Some cooks might object to worrying about the lead content of old crocks, arguing that the amount of lead that could contaminate the food is minimal. However, do not disregard this safety concern. Lead poisoning causes serious damage to your health and is irreversible.
Warning
In addition to lead-based paint, beware of cracks in vintage pickling crocks. Test vases with suspicious-looking cracks by filling the crock with water over a sink. Conceal a plastic container filled with water inside a cracked crock to use it as a vase.