Copper pot from Mexico - can I use it to cook with?

Question

I went to Cd. Juarez and bought cookware (cast iron skillet etc.) including one of those two-handled copper pots that are often used to cook carnitas. It's not a steel-lined copper pot or anything, it's just a two-handled copper pot.
I've seen these unlined two-handled copper pots used to actually cook with (in a restaurant in California that sold carnitas by the literal ton, every weekend). I think this one is really meant for cooking -- Although the place I bought it had some tourist junk, it also had stuff that was pretty clearly made for real kitchen use (like the cast-iron skillets and Dutch ovens they were selling). So I think this pot is really made to be used as a cooking implement. But the question is, can I just wash it and use it? Or does it somehow have to be prepared first (like, you know, a cast-iron skillet must be prepared properly before you can actually cook with it.) Anybody know?

Answer 1

Just cook with it! it soulds like you got a good pot. If it ever tarnishes, you should polish it, but that is all you have to watch out for. Oh, and if there isn't a thin layer of tin or stainless steel on its cooking surface (most have this though) don't cook anything acidic in it since copper is reactive.

Answer 2

I personally haven't heard of having to season copper. All I do know is not to cook acidic things like tomatoes in copper pans. Minerals leach out of the pans and the acid will stain them.

Answer 3

Yes, you can cook with it.