Water is an essential ingredient and part of the cooking process. The kind of water used for cooking can affect the taste and quality of the food. If you’re wondering whether you can use RO water for cooking, you’re at the right place. We’ll explore whether it is beneficial to use RO water for cooking and how best to use it.
Reverse osmosis water can be used for cooking because it is pollutant, chemical, and contaminant free. Cooking and baking food in RO water is not only nutritious, but it is much quicker due to the absence of minerals and TDS commonly found in unpurified water. Food made with reverse osmosis treated water tastes better because bad tasting chemicals like chlorine have been removed.
Cooking isn’t far from science since the quantity, quality, and combination of ingredients can make a major difference in how the food turns out. Water is used at almost every stage of cooking, so it significantly affects the taste and texture of the food we eat. Let’s explore what value using RO water can add to your cooking and baking.
Read my comprehensive article about reverse osmosis.
Table of Contents
Why Should You Use RO Water for Cooking?
Reverse osmosis filtration has become an increasingly popular choice for drinking water across the globe as it delivers safe and clean water for consumption when more than 3.4 million people around the world are dying of waterborne diseases.
While RO water is an excellent choice for drinking, it also makes sense to use it for cooking. Here are some compelling reasons to use RO water in your cooking:
1. Cleaner ingredients
Vegetables, meat, and fruit bought from the market are far from clean. They’ve been exposed to pesticides, fungicides, preservatives, pollutants, and microorganisms and need to be thoroughly washed before they can be added to a recipe.
Reverse osmosis removes the majority of microbes from tap water, including E.coli, typhoid, and cholera. When fresh produce is washed with RO water, it removes the impurities and adds no additional pollutants to the ingredients since it is pollutant and contaminant-free water.
You can be assured that the ingredients are clean and have no life-threatening waterborne diseases passed onto them from tap water.
2. Better taste
Ever wonder why your food never turns out as tasty as the recipe suggests? Your water could be the culprit. Hard water has salt and minerals that can offset the taste of your ingredients. If the water has a salinity, you must be super careful about the amount of salt you add to your food.
The best thing about using RO water for cooking and baking is that it contains no minerals or salts. These are removed during the filtration process, so you get the authentic taste of the sauces, ingredients, and spices you use.
3. Better Baking Results
Water is a crucial ingredient in baking, and expert bakers understand that baking is an exact science. It’s about more than just using quality ingredients and mixing techniques. The quality of the water used is equally important to the process. Water is essential in determining the right consistency of the dough and distributing the other ingredients evenly.
Minerals present in normal tap water can hinder the fermentation process, which results in flatter and tougher baked goods. Reverse osmosis water has no such minerals, and it boosts the role of the yeast. This ensures good fermentation and gluten formation, which results in soft and yummy baked goods each time.
4. Quicker cooking time
Have you noticed how the cooking time can be different in another location? That’s because of the difference in the water’s hardness levels.
Hard water has Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) and minerals that have high boiling points. These substances hinder the usual cooking process, which adds to the cooking time.
RO water does not contain TDS and minerals, so the food is cooked quickly, and its quality remains intact. This means you no longer have to wait hours for that bowl of beans to cook.
Common Contaminants Found in Tap Water
Here are some common contaminants that are found in tap water and their effects on your health, should you consume them through drinking water or as part of a recipe:
| Contaminant | Effect |
| Chlorine | Affects the taste and smell of food. Causes dry hair and skin |
| Arsenic | Constant exposure can lead to cancer and other serious disorders |
| Nitrates | Nitrate is a health hazard for infants and pregnant women |
| Sulfur | It can cause digestive issues and dehydration in both children and adults |
| Chromium-6 | It is highly dangerous and can cause cancer |
Related articles:
Should I Use Reverse Osmosis Water in a Humidifier?
Can I Use Reverse Osmosis Water for Baby Formula?
What Are Some Disadvantages to Using RO Water for Cooking
While RO water is excellent for cooking and baking, it does have some disadvantages that you should be aware of. These are things that can be remedied, though. Let’s look at these in detail:
1. Lack of essential minerals
RO water filtration systems are designed to remove all contaminants from water with a membrane with tiny pores. This membrane does not allow anything larger than a water molecule to pass through it.
This means that essential minerals are also removed from your water source along with the harmful contaminants.
Water is an excellent source of minerals because it aids in better absorption, so the absence of minerals can be a concern.
However, if you use an RO system with a mineralization filter or add mineral drops to the drinking water, you should be good!
2. It dilutes electrolytes in the body
RO water can dilute the minerals and electrolytes already present in your body because it is devoid of these minerals. Constant consumption of RO water in food and water form can lead to symptoms such as lightheadedness, cramps, and headaches.
This is easily rectified if you drink remineralized water. You can add a dash of Himalayan salt to your water to ensure you get an adequate amount of magnesium, calcium, and other electrolytes.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How can you improve the taste of RO water?
You can add a dash of Himalayan salt to your RO water to subside the slightly bitter taste of RO water. The bitter taste comes from the carbon dioxide dissolved in the water, which can give it an acidic pH.
2. How can you get minerals if you drink RO water?
You can remineralize your RO water by adding an affordable calcium filter or a good mineralization filter to your system. You can also invest in mineral drops and add them to your glass of water before drinking. I wrote a detailed article about remineralizing reverse osmosis treated water.
3. Can RO water dehydrate you?
RO water does not contain minerals, so that it can dehydrate you faster than unfiltered water. Electrolytes are required to keep a body hydrated for longer, which are removed during the RO process.
Final Thoughts
RO filtration systems produce clean and safe-to-drink water, which is suitable for cooking and baking. Not only does it ensure healthier food, but it can also add to the taste and texture of the recipes. We hope this article helps you see the benefits of using RO water for cooking.