- Joined
- Mar 13, 2005
- Messages
- 2,324
- Reaction score
- 750
- Age
- 69
Yeah, but this time, I promise it's really, really cool and something you can do in your own kitchen.
While emptying the dishwasher, I happened to hold a small CorningWare Pyroceram dish up to the light coming in through the kitchen window. The inside bottom glowed with an amber hue, exactly the same hue as VISIONS amber cookware. Curious, I rounded up various white vitreous cookware and bakeware, and substituted a bright white LED flashlight for the sun.
Clockwise from the upper right burner: CorningWare SimplyLite Vitrelle baking dish, white Pyrex "Colonial" dish, CorningWare French White Pyroceram casserole (among the last made in the USA by Corning, Inc.), and CorningWare Pyroceram 1.5L dish (made in France for World Kitchen, Inc.).
With the flashlight switched on to full brightness, I carefully balanced each piece over the lens. The results: surprising and perhaps a way to test if an unmarked dish or casserole is stovetop safe.
The Pyrex and SimplyLite, which aren't stovetop-safe, don't change the color of the flashlight. The French- and USA-made Pyroceram produce the amber VISIONS hue. Both pieces were made in the same time periods as VISIONS, which might explain why a pre-VISIONS CorningWare pie plate is completely opaque. Apparently, as the glass is heat tempered it changes from colorless to clear amber, then white with a translucent amber core, and finally opaque.
Just to be safe, don't put an opaque piece on the stove if you're not 100% certain it's genuine CorningWare Pyroceram. It might look like CorningWare but it might really be glazed terra cotta which won't have an unglazed firing ring.
Try it yourself! And post pictures!
While emptying the dishwasher, I happened to hold a small CorningWare Pyroceram dish up to the light coming in through the kitchen window. The inside bottom glowed with an amber hue, exactly the same hue as VISIONS amber cookware. Curious, I rounded up various white vitreous cookware and bakeware, and substituted a bright white LED flashlight for the sun.
Clockwise from the upper right burner: CorningWare SimplyLite Vitrelle baking dish, white Pyrex "Colonial" dish, CorningWare French White Pyroceram casserole (among the last made in the USA by Corning, Inc.), and CorningWare Pyroceram 1.5L dish (made in France for World Kitchen, Inc.).
With the flashlight switched on to full brightness, I carefully balanced each piece over the lens. The results: surprising and perhaps a way to test if an unmarked dish or casserole is stovetop safe.
The Pyrex and SimplyLite, which aren't stovetop-safe, don't change the color of the flashlight. The French- and USA-made Pyroceram produce the amber VISIONS hue. Both pieces were made in the same time periods as VISIONS, which might explain why a pre-VISIONS CorningWare pie plate is completely opaque. Apparently, as the glass is heat tempered it changes from colorless to clear amber, then white with a translucent amber core, and finally opaque.
Just to be safe, don't put an opaque piece on the stove if you're not 100% certain it's genuine CorningWare Pyroceram. It might look like CorningWare but it might really be glazed terra cotta which won't have an unglazed firing ring.
Try it yourself! And post pictures!
Last edited:
