I have an old copper tea kettle that my parent's got as a wedding gift many years ago. They never used it, but gave it to me about 5 years ago, and I have been using it in the winters ever since. I left it on the stove a bit too long (oops!) and burnt the thing. Now it is mis-colored, and the outside layer on the bottom (on the outside) just flaked off. Do you think that it is still safe to heat water in for tea, or is it time to get rid of the thing?
You shouldn't have used it. copper is dangerous already, and now it is burnt. Just get rid of it
its still good I have copper pans burnt etc , all good
What the outside looks like is not important. It's what the inside looks like that matters. Copper is poisonous; you don't want to eat very much of it, so copper cookware is lined with another metal which is safe for contact with food. That metal always used to be tin, though you can now get copper cookware lined with stainless steel. Tin wears off, and it also melts at high temperatures. If that teapot is not shiny silver metal on the inside, I would never use it for anything food related. I don't know what kind of kettle that is with a coating that can flake off when heated. Copperware sometimes comes with a coating of lacquer to keep it from tarnishing before the consumer gets it home. You're supposed to wash that off before putting it on heat or putting food in it.
