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They changed the formula for Pyrex glass many years ago and the new formula is inferior to the old one. Somehow I doubt the current incarnation of these compan
by branon 3y ago
They changed the formula for Pyrex glass many years ago and the new formula is inferior to the old one.
Somehow I doubt the current incarnation of these companies has much at all to do with their origin.
- zinekeller 3y ago> Somehow I doubt the current incarnation of these companies has much at all to do with their origin. The origin of Pyrex is Corning, the Gorilla Glass maker. They divested Pyrex because they've got tired of dealing with the consumer market and wanted to focus on B2B sales. The US market was acquired by (as shown) eager to make a quick buck on brand recognition. The European market was acquired by a different company which still manufactures borosilicate cookware to this day (and are not affected by this bankruptcy).
- myself248 3y agoAye, and this drives me nuts. For 50+ years, "Pyrex" was the name of a material, borosilicate glass, with known material properties. You could count on it being safe in certain situations. Then Corning somehow decided that it was the name of a _brand_, and they could use whatever inferior material they wanted, and if you put it in those same situations it would explode and cover your kitchen/lab in glass shards. How that was even legal, I will never understand.
- retrac 3y agoPyrex, the term, was originally a brand for borosilicate glass. It has become partially generic over the years, like Aspirin or Kleenex. Aspirin is still a trademark of Bayer in Canada; if they want to switch to ibuprofen instead of aspirin as the active ingredient, and sell it as Aspirin, they could. Similarly, if Kimberley-Clark decides to start selling sandpaper and call them Kleenex, they could. If a trademark becomes fully generic it can be ruled so by a court, at which point the trademark protection is lost. Aspirin is like that in the US. But that is pretty rare these days.
- MagnumOpus 3y agoAspirin is different - the US trademark for the name was explicitly expropriated from Bayer by the US government during WW1 and became a generic... that didn't happen to Kleenex or Pyrex.
- myself248 3y agoBut if someone sold ibuprofen as "aspirin", doctors would rightfully decry the move as likely to get someone killed. It's a generic but it has a specific meaning. Selling soda-lime glass as "pyrex" has gotten plenty of people injured, but evidently none severely enough to sue Corning's pants off.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoLike to know the name of the European company still making borosilicate glassware.
- Mayzie 3y agoPYREX, all capitals. pyrex, all lowercase, are soda lime glass and terrible.
- zinekeller 3y agoIt's now also (confusingly) known as PYREX, and here's their website: https://www.pyrex.eu/ https://www.pyrex.eu/. I'm not sure if they can deliver to the US (because trademarks and stuff).
- throw9away6 3y agoWhat you want is borosilicate glass. Bodum I think still makes it but other brands Do too. Pryrex is no better than generic Chinese glass
- bonniemuffin 3y agoCorelle still uses the same really excellent formula they've always used, though. I have a mixed set of new and old Corelle dishes (<1 yr old and >10 years old), and I can't tell the new ones from the old ones.
- bradfa 3y agoCorelle is owned by the same conglomerate as Instant and Pyrex, it seems.
- salad-tycoon 3y agoThis is certainly not my understanding. After production left USA quality is worse. Breaks more often and when it shatters, it doesn’t just break apart. It’s like a kinetic blast sending forth hair and bigger sized razor sharp glass shards in a surprisingly wide radius. It’s like a mutually assured destruction event and will require heavy clean up and you still might end up with glass in your feet and eyes. I remember reading the Amazon reviews and the amount of 1 star stories about how a plate landed them in the ER was concerning. I bought some vintage Corelle at a private sale and it seems different to me at least but maybe I am buying the wrong contemporary stuff.
- bonniemuffin 3y agoI wonder if some of the bad Amazon experiences are due to counterfeit/fakes, and/or the product lines that are made in china? Their products vary in materials and country of manufacture. The ones I like are made of Vitrelle, come directly from Corelle, and it's one of the product lines they still make in New York: https://www.corelle.com/product/winter-frost-white-78-piece-dinnerware-set-service-12 https://www.corelle.com/product/winter-frost-white-78-piece-... I think they're all (even the vintage ones) subject to risk of shattering into pointy shards if they break, though. They're not magic. :)
- nrclark 3y agoCorelle plates have always been that way, I think. I was raised using them, and I still buy them now that I have children of my own. For me, they're 100% shatterproof until they're not. You can drop them over and over again, and never notice any visible change. But then when they finally do shatter, it's almost like an explosion. I think this is because they're built from a pressurized metal/glass layered composite. Very sturdy until enough internal damage builds up.
- goerz 3y agoDoes anyone have a specific recommendation for a glass measuring cup that is safe to boil on a gas stove (like PYREX before they changed their glass)?
- bonniemuffin 3y agoI use borosilicate lab beakers in the kitchen. The main disadvantage is that they don't have handles so you'll need a pot holder to use them for hot things.
- dylan604 3y agoI went full tilt and bought beaker tongs! Lab coat works great instead of an apron too.
- flyinghamster 3y agoOxo would be a good brand to check - when I looked for a baking dish, I noticed that Oxo specifically mentioned borosilicate on the label.
- wavefunction 3y agoOxo is one of the finest examples of mass-market consumer industrial design and quality I've ever seen. Every product of theirs I've purchased has been exemplary, even years later after heavy and extensive use.
- quercusa 3y agoLook down the length of a Pyrex pan or measuring cup - if it's green, it's the cheap stuff, if colorless it's old Pyrex.
- Larrikin 3y agoIt's much easier to just look at the logo. The fake stuff is easily spotted
- MegaDeKay 3y agoHere is a really good Wirecutter article that discusses the differences. TL;DR: they don't consider the switch away from borosilicate to be a big deal, but borosilicate-based products are still out there if you want them. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/tempered-vs-borosilicate-glass/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/tempered-vs-borosili...
- mholm 3y agoI've been skeptical of the Wirecutter for a few years now. It seems their reviews are starting to lean away from quality products, and start pointing towards companies with a bigger marketing budget. Example, their handvac recommendations are entirely Black & Decker, but I've tried a few of them and found them vastly overpriced compared to others on the market.