My understanding is the claim that Cr is a necessary micronutrient is disputed.
I also understand the silicone in current parchment paper isn't a PFAS, as it contains no fluorine.
An additional source of silicones in landfills is cosmetics, of which they form a substantial fraction.
There are valid uses for silicone, for example high quality silicone gaskets for leak proof containers are a very solid use case. We should just not use it for everything that's remotely applicable.
Later her TV show The French Chef apparently also popularized it further - it ran from 1963 to 1973.
But, searching the subject it seems that she helped popularize a technique in 1997 on her later TV show, Baking With Julia, in which you use an upside down pan as a guide to cut a perfect circle of parchment that fits the pan. Perhaps that helps explain more widespread awareness in the 2000s?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S277241662...
> Editor’s note: This post has been clarified to note that there are some use cases for wax paper in the oven, though not as a direct replacement for parchment paper.
The note at the end says that the post has been "clarified", but isn't the base problem that that question is asked backwards? The question they should be asking, and indeed the question they are answering is "Can I replace parchment paper with wax paper", and answer is indeed that with rare exceptions this would lead to disaster.
But the question as quoted (but not answered) is "Can I replace wax paper with parchment paper in the kitchen?" Which is a question rarely asked, but less obvious. My guess would be that in almost every case you can indeed replace wax paper with parchment paper, because to a first approximation wax paper is always a disaster in the kitchen.
Separately, I'll add that despite being quite interested in this topic, and quite passionate in my love for parchment paper and my hatred for wax paper, I found this article to be really painful to read. What terrible stylistic choices! Are there people out there who prefer this style of ADHD vomit in the articles they choose to read?
The reason I was looking for this paper is because of those frozen burrito instructions which say to wrap in a paper towel. But if the burrito is defrosted, the tortilla is quite sticky, and heating in the microwave welds it to the paper. The deli paper did not solve this issue, but at least the "dry wax" is microwave-safe.
The best baking paper is Silicone Vegetable Parchment. This can be baked on usually 5-6 times so is great for a commercial bakery. The one we sold was a two-sided emulsion of Polydimethylsiloxane coated on 42gsm vegetable parchment. It could be used for dry, wet, fatty foods and for baking application up to 220ºc, together with frozen food, food interleave and industrial uses
There is a silicoat baking paper which is cheaper but can only be used a couple of times. The one we sold was 57gsm Silcoat is a bleached, high density paper, manufactured from virgin fibre with high chemical purity, coated on both sides with silicone and was certified to be Home Compostable.
There is also baking parchment which is is widely available for consumers, these tend to be quite thin and only suitable for single use. It's a parchment paper with silicone coatings.
There is also basic greaseproof (which we used as kids as "tracing paper") which can take some temperature but is nothing like as robust.