Do you have pyrex dishes at your house? Have any shattered? Thanks to HOLZKERN for sponsoring: www.holzkern.com/en_world/howtocookthat Get 15% off with the code: COOKTHAT15. ⌚👜🕶
My exploding Pyrex story is that I had a small bottle of honey that had crystallized which I put upside down in a very small Pyrex dessert cup and put the two into the microwave for 10 seconds, with the intention of softening the honey and having it flow down into the dish. Unfortunately there was still a tiny fleck of the original metallic seal on the top of the bottle, so when I put the bottle upside down in the dish that piece of metal was in contact with the Pyrex, and after just a few moments in the microwave that metal flashed blue (I’m guessing it was a tiny plasma explosion) and that put thermal stress into the glass (I saw the blue flash and immediately stopped the microwave, but it had already happened…) when I picked up the dish something about me touching it caused it to shatter. Fortunately enough honey had run down the sides of the bottle into the dish that the homey held the glass together enough that pieces didn’t go flying. The dish was my grandmother’s, and she died in 1962, so it might possibly have been soda lime, but more likely is borosilicate. I’m not home right now, but when I get home in a few hours I will check one of the others from the set and see which it is. (And to clarify, this happened many years ago, before I started eating a vegan diet, so that’s why I had honey in the house)
I have quite a few, and have had many more over the years, none of which have ever broken, other than being dropped. But I would never set a hot glass dish of any kind on a cold surface. I did have a set of "pans", made of brown tinted clear glass, that had no problems with being directly on burners, I had an electric stove at that time so not on a flame. I've always used Pyrex in the oven and under the broiler and have never put liquid under meats. Never had an issue.
As someone who works with chemicals, their recent rebrand has caused a lot of safety issues in labs. There should be NO CONFUSION about whether a piece of glassware that could be holding some very hot, very volatile and very dangerous products is safe or not.
I did notice that some of my glassware doesn't have a pyrex label but does say "borosilicate" glass on it. It is concerning though since it would mean they are deciding which pieces they think we will heat/cool drastically and which we won't...
@@zacmea Although you could argue that this would cause just that. If people are buying pyrex cookware for their heat resistance, and the change from borosilicate means that their dishes are exploding from regular usage, you would think that would hurt the company image.
I wonder if they don't want to advertise that they changed how they make their glassware because so many people buy Pyrex because it used to be known to be heat resistant and all that. So if they make it much more clear that their glassware can't be used the same as old Pyrex glassware was used, they'll lose on sales. So instead they just put a small warning on the label so when people call to complain, they can say "Well you should have read the labels before using it".
This is not a "recent" rebrand. They started using soda ash glass decades ago in the US when Corning sold the brand. The original font is the same as on the borosilicate French products so that's how to tell the difference.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that IKEAs “365” line of glass food storage products is made from borosilicate, and they don’t even advertise it. It’s incredible that even basic tupperware style containers from a furniture store is more Pyrex than Pyrex is.
I came to the comments looking for something like this, thank you! I have a glass dish from IKEA. Based on the options on the website I’m guessing it is “MIXTUR.” How can I find out what type of glass it’s made from? All I see online is the following, under “Materials and Care” *Material* Heat resistant glass *Care* Microwave-safe. Dishwasher-safe. Oven-safe - withstands temperatures up to 536 °F.
In 2020 I was taking chemistry and we were doing an at-home lab (due to covid) and the teacher, who has a PhD in chemistry, told us that we could put Pyrex on the stove top because that's what beakers are made of. Something about the way my baking dish felt made me skeptical that it was the same stuff and thankfully I googled it before putting it on the gas range. I should probably send this video to her!
I was impressed because it showed something else very important: the fact that it didn't matter if it was soda lime or boro silicate IT STILL BROKE WHEN SHOCKED. NO glass is impervious. And as a glass artist I know that the most likely predictor of if glass will break is a score (scratch) or chip, that's HOW we cut glass (Yes, even boro). Those "old" logo pieces are in fact just as dangerous or MORE SO because scratches tend build up as it's used over time.
@@_AbhiRam_ it sure is. No one thinks otherwise, she runs a gente business. But there was no need to sacrifice her favorite dish, for an exemple. Some things can't be replaced, no matter how much money you get for it
Can we just talk about how she used her own favorite, pretty pie dish in this experiment?!?! Ann, that's real dedication to your viewers!! Because I wouldn't have done it. So thank you very much for putting your safety and your own bake ware on the line for us! (I know she did it as safely as possible, but still, some of those dishes shattered FAST.)
I came to the comments to say this but I'm honestly sad. It was her favorite pie dish! It wasn't THAT necessary to test every single one, we were getting the gist that the color method wasn't reliable 😭
4:06 - *THIS!* The problem is not that they make the Soda-Lime glass; it's that they stopped making the Borosilicate glass without even changing the packaging so people were/are completely caught off-guard. Great video as always!
I believe there is a difference PYREX (all caps) is still the original material, like she bought in France. Pyrex (lowercase) is everything else. They just never bothered to tell everyone. 🤐 shame 🫤
@@jennoq1311Did you see the video at 7:30? That's probably a myth. My experience also is it's not a reliable indicator, some of the Made in the USA stuff from 10-20 years ago is soda-lime but still has the uppercase logo.
I dunno if Ann mentioned this bc I haven't watched the whole vid yet, but the best way to tell is if the glass is blue tinted or not. If not (& the logo is in all caps), then it is borosilicate.
@@malcolm_in_the_middleshe did lose her favorite fluted pie plate which I imagine has served her well for years. It may not have passed the break test but it probably could have withstood the creation of many more pies
It's the fact that it's shattering WHILE IN THE OVEN that gets me. People in comments are saying they preheated and had the bottom covered and everything, so I'm at a loss. I use an old hand me down pyrex dish for baking, but I am glad to know that I will have to be aware if I ever need to buy a new glass dish.
I would guess the glas was not heated / de-stressed enough, basicly saving energy cost by not heating it to close to its melting point after the initial casting of the form to de-stress it.
About 10yrs ago my housemate and I had a pyrex casserole dish EXPLODE. It did go into the tempered break style and it went everywhere. From memory we took it out of the oven and I think onto the stove top frame that was not on, would have been room temperature... we weren't physically hurt, just emotionally as we lost a whole chicken rice dinner dish my housemate just cooked.
I was thinking about that too, and your case seems to me that the part about stove top and all others were about their heat conductivity and not about the difference in temperature. Heat conductivity will change the temperature of what touches them pretty fast, hence why your skin feels that they're cool when they're not even chilled because our body is warmer than most room temperature
It's about rapid change in temperature, not absolute temperature. If you take a hot dish and place it on a room temperature surface, especially one with high thermal conductivity like a metal cook top, it's going to be more likely to break.
It is deeply irresponsible for a company to drastically change the way their product functions without notifying consumers, especially when the consequences of the product failing can include oven-hot liquids and shattered glass splashing all over unexpectedly! Especially when you take into consideration that it's a product that has gone unchanged for generations of consumers, PYREX's silence on the change seems to constitute negligence.
Poppycock. You should be using both versions with the same level of care. If you’re subjecting either type of glass to extreme temperature changes it’s you who’s being irresponsible.
I had this happen as I was making buttermilk quark. I was lucky none of the exploding glass cut me. "Pyrex" sent me a replacement measuring bowl, which claimed its plastic lid was microwavable. It was not. It melted after about a minute.
In the laboratory, we would use UV light. The reason it didn't do anything when you checked is that the soda lime Glass blocks UV but borosilicate will let it pass, so in your test they appear the same but if you put the uranium glass under the Pyrex then shine the UV light on it through the Pyrex you should see the difference. This should work with anything flourescent (not just uranium glass)
But soda lime only blocks UVA, it'll still pass UVB, which is why you also have to have the right kind of UV lamp. (and why sitting next to a window you aren't likely to get sunburned, but you will still get wrinkles and faded clothing)
@@mwater_moon2865 Intersting thought but I just tried that. Soda-lime seems to pass my UVA-I source without any effect. I used a 395 to 400 nm LED flashlight through boro (my Silex coffee pot featuring true PYREX brand boro), an Anchor measuring cup, a newish pyrex soda-lime pie plate and an OXO acrylic for reference. The vaseline glass, a toothpick holder with better than 500 mr/hr of beta activity, glowed brightly regardless. Maybe it can block UVB-II or UVB but I don't have those light sources handy.
My mom always told us never to put a hot ANYTHING - PYREX, cast iron, FireKing, even stainless or aluminum pot - straight into cold water or ot would break or warp. I have accidentally warped metal and shattered glass. But I love my old PYREX and use it daily. I have many pieces of 70 yr old PYREX still going strong, but I am careful not to suddenly shock it in either temperature direction. Ann, you deserve a handsome reward for all the info you provide, all the meticulous testing & filming, all the clean-up your magnificent videos require. Youre the best!🎉
I bet that's why your bakeware is still around decades later! Borosilicate is definitely a lot more resistant to thermal stress, but not immune. Small chips and cracks in the glass can still act as an origin point for a full shattering when combined with a lot of thermal stress. So a new dish can probably handle the full temperature shock, but one with chips can shatter under mild conditions because the fault line can start and grow at that defect. The ones that shatter on first use probably came shipped with a scratch, or maybe had some substandard annealing. They can't all be winners!
I started to follow you YEARS ago for the incredibly well filmed cake and chocolate designs. You are a perfect example of a channel that evolves past its origins successfully, as you have informed and entertained us ever since. You have gone on to save lives and stuff even with your content. It goes to show it's not JUST the steady subject matter, it's who is doing it. Which means you are fab at doing anything. I really appreciate this direction of you doing a video about whatever moves you. May your channel live forever! :) Much love from Finland
I used to be a private chef, cooking dinners at people's houses. one time I made a dish that took me about a day to prepare, used a soda-lime pyrex and... you can guess the rest... this happened years ago and I still remember how awful I felt then. you're completely right, how should we know what kind of pyrex it is when it has the same exact name and it's already out of the package?
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 Even tho you basically copy pasted that, after browsing these comments for a little while, that seems to be the general consensus, and more people need to know. In fact, while this video is a great PSA on the dangers of the soda-lime glass, there now needs to be another video on the dangers of borosilicate glass, which might sway some people, myself included, that soda-lime actually is better.
@@john_titor1 I know that for me, I'm far more likely to shove my room temp Pyrex into a hot oven, or put it down on a cool surface after it's done cooking. In fact, that's how I broke my borosilicate Pyrex measuring cup. On the other hand, plenty of others will drop theirs, and that's perfectly legit too. It's important to know your own flaws as well as the flaws of the glass.
I had a brand new set of Pyrex. The first time I used the smaller one it exploded in the oven. There was no extreme temperature change. Mixed up brownie batter, put it in a room temperature dish, into a preheated oven. About 5-10 minutes later it exploded.
well, 70F into 350 F is a fair jump in temperature... thermal shock goes both ways. Still, it's not good that these new Pyrex dishes are not nearly as good as their precursors but seem to be relying upon that name to sell.
@@magmafeesh1828 Ann showed in the video (6:28) that Pyrex's own instructions say to put it in a fully preheated oven, OP literally followed manufacturer instructions (that weren't even well known) and it still exploded
@@ecoonrad4753 I hadn't gotten to that part of the video yet (an interesting statement - and yes, I do fall into the group that has not heard those warnings regarding glassware) but I still stand by my statement of thermal shock. In the case above, it was likely a defect in the material (microcrack) plus the rapid temperature change that caused the break. Although I can see why they advise not to put room temperature glass in a heating oven (uneven heating is a major cause of thermal shock) a sharp rate of temperature change can ALSO cause thermal shock (which is why you don't take your soda lime from fridge to oven - that extra 20/40 degrees is crucial to keeping stresses more balanced in the material).
I remember learning the hard way that today's pyrex is not my grandma's pyrex. I often used a pyrex measuring cup to save broth or potato/pasta water. We always joked about how they were second only to cast iron for durability. I poured some hot water into a newer pyrex and the whole thing broke apart. It felt like reality shattered.
After looking at this i'm even more grateful for the pyrex i had from my grandma when i got my first appartment. None of them shatered even the giant measuring cup is still alive ( using it for broth and stuff like you said )
@@stevenalexander4721 The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cook ware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and less likely to break conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
I think something that needs pointing out when it comes to the online videos of people's dishes exploding is that in at least some places in the US, "Pyrex" became the colloquial name for any kind of glass bakeware. So when someone has a video that says "my Pyrex dish exploded", I take it with a grain of soda-lime wether they have a real Pyrex dish, or just some glass bakeware from Wal-Mart.
I've been baking and cooking in Pyrex for several decades, and the only breakage I've ever had was directly related to "droppage." After watching this (thanks for another great video, Ann!) I realize I'm fortunate that most of my Pyrex is even older than I am, including my blue cooking pots/pans with removable handles. I think it was a very poor choice for the company to retain the name Pyrex but effectively reduce or remove qualities for which their product is best known.
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 But the thing is... If i have, i dunno. A famous coffee drink company or whatever, that only uses non dairy milk, and then after years of that I change to regular dairy without letting people know (besides a tiny change on the back label)... That's kinda incredibly shitty. Also I personally find sodalime way more dangerous. Since you know, it explodes from regular use. Going from the oven to a room temperature countertop should _not_ be an extreme temperature change. (Unless you're clumsy anyway. I don't think I've ever dropped any of my glassware for baking or like, storage. Only a few plates and regular glasses. No wait I did break a canning jar once, though, it was by accidentally shoving a spoon through it from the inside, not dropping it.)
@@MsLilly200 Firstly, i agree, they should have done a better job of notifying of the change in properties. However, it was over 30 years ago by now. Secondly, it's not a subjective thing. Sodalime is objectively safer. It doesn't randomly explode from regular use. It only "explodes" due to extreme thermal shock, which happens to borosilicate as well. Going from oven temp to room temp IS an extreme difference, wanting it to be otherwise doesn't change thermodynamics, but it's also about the time it takes to do so. Even borosilicate glass will shatter if you go from 400F to 70F too fast, i.e. into an ice water bath. You are supposed to minimize thermal shock with any glass, including borosilicate. Even still, this "exploding glass" is safer than borosilicate, because the shards are smaller, rounder, and less sharp than borosilicate, by a significant margin. Not sure what your last paragraph is supposed to mean, but im assuming you are trying to state that the tempered strength of sodalime isn't as important as the slight increase in thermal shock resistance in borosilicate. But statistics prove that wrong. The VAST majority of glassware accidents occur from physical/mechanical shock, not thermal. Unless you are working in a lab, you don't really need high thermal shock resistant glass, and it tends to just build bad habits. If you still prefer to deal with borosilicate for cookware, that's fine, you do you. Just realize that statistically, you are more likely to injure yourself or break your cookware.
@@john_titor1 Well, I guess you could be right about the general population. It's not like I've looked at the statistics. Also... Um... To me smaller shards just sounds more dangerous than big ones. Just like, instinctively. Because if the shards are big, you can find and pick them up easily as long as you're careful, while smaller shards are harder to find and you might step on them, or your pets might like, eat them. I guess my immediate thought doesn't really account for like, dropping it on the floor and the shards flying around at great speeds and maybe cutting/impaling you. The drinking glasses and plates I _have_ dropped probably have some kind of tempering to make dropping them safer and I just haven't really thought about that before now.
@@john_titor1 if sodalime is objectively safer, why don't they use it in stuff like science beakers? :) Also do you work for pyrex? lol, you're in like every sigle comment desperately defending them
Dear Ann, Thanks for the info about changes in Pyrex wares. I am in the USA and did NOT know there had been a change in the product. I feel so badly that you sacrificed your fav pie pan as well as other pieces for this experiment. I have not experienced any breakage, but most of my pyrex is 35 - 50 years old. I also have some even older pieces inherited from relatives. I will be passing this info on to the younger generations in my family who most likely will be impacted. LUV your videos!
Hi Ann, just want to say to be careful even when using the pieces that survived heat shock! NileRed had to replace all of his beakers a while ago due to heat shock creating invisible stresses that led to them spontaneously breaking even weeks later.
That wasn't heat shock, it was a possible chemical change due to high temperature plasma in the microwave. He had to break everything because he didn't keep track of which ones were compromised.
I was also thinking this, or how some of the older pieces might have originally been able to withstand thermal shock but after years of abuse (people cutting pies out of pie plates, scraping with forks and utensils), it creates weak spots that can't handle as much stress and they fail. I've gone through this over the years with canning jars sometimes, eventually some just give out from repeated stress over time and break in the canner, leaving you with a sad pot full of watered-down food.
I love how you explain the issue without delving into clickbait exagerations and meaningless cliffhangers as other youtubers feel compelled to do. You could easily have names this video "this is how pyrex is lying to you" or "how a dish can kill" but you keep it professional. I feel like I am going to be more aware of products I use and their instructions and regulations (or lack thereof) in the future, as this is clearly not simply a "brand" issue but a systemic market one.
THANK YOU for being safe with glass! I'm a glass artist, I have worked with several types of glass when melty hot: boro (COE 33), "regular" soda lime (COE 90 or 96) and "soft" European glass (COE 104) NO glass is *safe* when temperature shocked. And no glass is safe when it's got a scratch.
In Finland the PYREX is made in France and it's definitely borosilicate glass. Funnily enough IKEA still makes borosilicate cooking ware and sells it also in the US. The US IKEA site actually specifically says that the Följsam oven tray is made from borosilicate glass.
I never thought I'd be able to stay interested in a 18 min video about glass dishes. And yet. As always, you manage to make your videos fun, entertaining and educative. Thank youuu~
As a glass blower who has been lucky enough to study at the Corning Museum of Glass, and visit the Steuben factory there before it closed...this is amazing! And there is so much more amazing stuff about the chemistry of glass and how it heats and cools that it would be great to share. I'll try and write it more consistently, but basically: the slower the temperature changes the better. Stress is going to develop at points that have been subjected to more repeated changes in heat and cooling (my guess would be the metal racks of your oven over time would make those spots on the pyrex potentially more vulnerable). Glassblowing nerds love to go into detail on this, and there are a lot of books (many of htem available in Corning at the Rakow research library!) about the science. Most important to any glass making is annealing to ensure the crystalline structure of the glass forms properly. If glass is heated and cooled too quickly, the molecules start to move around...and if you make them solid too quickly, the structure it forms isn't as strong and stable as if it has lots of time to slowly move back into it's structure (non-scientist here trying to explain it, so I'm sure I'm off a little). I love your channel and this made my little glass nerd heart explode like new pyrex!
I'm wondering as well if some people are premaking these casseroles, refrigerating them, and putting them into the oven to heat when they are ready to eat
I had a Pyrex bowl explode while I was reaching for it to put some leftovers away. I had some small ones stacked, with paper in between to keep them from scratching. I had just washed my hands, so my hand was still a bit damp. All I did was touch the edge of the bowl to get it out from underneath a smaller one, and it exploded. Good thing the bowls it was nestled in kept it from shattering too far and wide. Ever since then I have been paranoid of the new bowls and keeping and eye out at thrift stores for the classic Pyrex. And, I agree that IKEA bakeware is great.
The amount of expensive dishes you destroyed just to determine how to tell them apart is impressive and it is good you've got the sponsorship for this one. The information is really important and interesting and I am gonna check my own pyrex-like glassware this way.
Except... that it was not necessary to destroy any of them. Like... why do all that if there was a perfectly safe way to determine the glass type but submerging in oil instead of exploding them?
@@toxicginger9936 because she didn't know about submerging in Oil working or not until she compared the results of it with the results of breaking test.
@@toxicginger9936I'm going to add on that it shows how danger it is when it explodes. Since most of us are "Children of the Screens" the simple method probably isn't enough to make people take it seriously.
If pyromaniacs are people who have an intense urge to start fires, then is Ann a Pyrexmaniac - a person who has an intense urge to break Pyrex glassware? Jokes aside, another incredibly informative and educational video, Ann. Thank you for going out of your way to buy all the Pyrex glassware and even sacrificing your favourite pie dish for us to test out the theories out there. ❤
Oh, so that explains why the Pyrex I bought in Canada exploded in million pieces whereas I never had something like that happening with the ones I've used all my life in France. We were so shocked with my flatmate, because we didn't do anything different from what we used to do back home. On a funny note, I've just discovered thanks to your video that my white and flowery dishes from the 1970's are also Pyrex. I always assumed they made clear dishes.
@BlackSlimShady I don't know anything about tax law in Australia, but in the U.S., what she can write off as a business expense is any new glassware she bought to make the video *_AND_* any new glassware she bought to *_replace_* the old glassware she destroyed.
Went to Coles today and saw that all the Pyrex is now labelled Borosilicate, and includes labels saying it has “220° thermal shock” (not sure what that means exactly but planning to look it up). Looks like you’ve managed to make a difference! I also notice some Wiltshire (Coles’ home brand) labelled borosilicate, so I guess it’s become “A Thing”? (Aka., Pyrex figured out that, if they provide the option, people might feel inclined to replace all their cookware, thus making them a huge profit. But, whatever, we have Pyrex classic back now!)
So I'm dropping in six months late, but for those wondering borosilicate glass has a temp difference max of 220 degrees Celsius (425F). Meaning it's supposed to be able to go from, say a freezer set at -20C to an oven preheated to 200C and not shatter. Important to note however, borosilicate glass has a _max_ temp rating of 232C (450F) at which even it will shatter.
OXO also has Borosilicate Glass kitchenware. It costs alot more than the soda lime Glass, but its worth it. Look for borosilicate when you buy any glass, the manufacturers label it on the package.
@@CL_G Yeah, I've been keeping an eye out. Also, since I have both kinds in my kitchen, Some of them are only marked borosilicate on the label (which obviously gets removed), so I've designated a section of cupboard/dishwasher for the new stuff so I don't get it mixed up. I tried a few ways marking them, but nothing survived the dishwasher. What's interesting is, I was following this story before this video was posted, and nothing I could find was labelled as either borosilicate OR soda lime. But, shortly after this video was published, I started noticing that some are now marked as borosilicate. Interestingly, I still don't see many marked as soda lime, so I suppose we assume it's soda lime unless marked otherwise?
@siennaross6704 Yes, unless it's marked. I have found borosilicate glass at some 99 cents stores for around $6, where I live. It's half the cost of the name brands, but I notice that they don't give a max temp oven rating. I normally cook things at 350 degrees, but the last 'borosilicate glass' I put it at that temp began to warp. So now I'm skeptical of buying those and will stick with the name brand unless the temp is advertised on the package.
having used pyrex cookware since the 1970s (in the USA), i'm surprised this is news to anyone. Even back then, you knew not to put a hot dish on a cold surface or it could break. Granted, I don't remember it exploding.. just breaking/ cracking into a few large pieces. thanks for (safely) showing the dangers of thermal shock.. and the even cooler use of index of refraction to identify the materials!
Same, I was always taught to be cautious of thermal shock regardless of the brand name on the dish. (Though I thought the hot pads were more to protect the counter, since heat will mar some countertop surfaces. I suppose it protects in both directions.)
The same company that makes Pyrex in the US also makes glass pots for use on the stovetop under the Visions brand. I'm pretty sure they used to make small pans as well. My mom used to have a set. I was weary of using it at first, worried that it would shatter. It could leave someone who isn't paying attention to think other glass cookware is also as resilient.
I experienced a glass baking dish shattering about 20 years ago. When my daughter moved into her first apartment a couple of years ago, I did some reading on the internet and bought her a borosilicate baking dish. It's worth the slightly higher price.
I use both for different purposes! Old Pyrex has been great for freezing things that I’ll want to reheat in the glass dish, like soup or chicken pot pie. New Pyrex is supposedly more resistant to breaking accidentally, like if you drop it on the floor, so I use that as my regular cookware. Though to be fair, I’ve never broken anything Pyrex, on accident or due to temp changes, so I don’t know how break resistant either is. But the newer glass is cheaper so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.
I came here for the science based on the title -- didn't know it was a cooking channel, I just need to call out that was one of the best researched and explained science subjects I've seen on RUclips -- Presentation style was amazing, you should change career and become a science influencer.
I appreciate all of the "don't try this at home" warnings. I also appreciate you testing this for us so we can see the results without the danger. Also.... WEEEEEE EXPLOSIONS!!!!
The level you go to, to help people understand things so clearly and your willingness to test it and try things out never stops to amaze me. You really are a treasure! Thank you Ann!
I was absolutely sure the lower-case pyrex was the safe one!!!! Thank you so much for this, we've already had one explode on our oven (during Christmas too... That was a bummer...) So I thought I'd researched and found the answer, but now you're telling me I got it wrong!!! That's a scary thought D: Live your videos, always!!!
I've worked with a lot of glass doing historical archaeology. The yellow tends to be from selenium-rich sands. Lots of different colors are caused by the mineral makeup, like cobalt causing that signature blue color. It's fascinating. When we get to the vegetable oil test, I wonder if the thickness of the glass has anything to do with the visibility along the "edges". After all, the only time you perceive color when looking at most glass is when there's a significant thickness in your direct view, such as looking down on the rim of a bowl or horizontally along the edges.
This plus the colour in there due to the mineral make up. Its just the borosilicate bit which has that refractive index thing, not the inclusions, so the cobalt inclusions won't go see through suddenly in oil. And obviously there will be more of them where the glass is thicker. If you could somehow create an entirely pure borosilicate glass (likely impossible, but still) then even the thicker bits should vanish or mostly so. Based on physics (roughly lol). I'm now wishing I could remember in more detail my study on Roman glass whilst at university because I can't remember what kind of glass theirs was nor if we actually covered the specific make up much. Finding a tiny shard of Roman glass on a dig was pretty cool for me after I'd spent so long agonising over that particular essay. It didn't quite beat the person next to me finding the copper penis, but they didn't spot the shard sparkling so... It was the only find of glass on the site at that point so still felt it was pretty cool. And we all knew the mosaic was going to be there in pieces based on previous years excavations.
The thickness of the glass shouldn't be a factor in it's (in) visibility in the oil. Basically, when you see the glass, it's because the light passing through it is angled slightly differently from what it was in the pure oil. This angle change happens at the point where the light goes from oil to glass, so it doesn't matter how thick the glass is after that. For the other glass, the index of refraction is the same as the oil's and so the angle of the light path doesn't change at all in the transition between the two substances- it's as if nothing is there to deflect it.
@@Turquise8 ONLY if the glass has no other inclusions-- like chemicals that color it a pleasant shade of blue or green, because yellow was perceived to be be "dirty" in bakeware, which is why canning jars -- which are all boro-- tend to use colorants to alter the glass color. As a glass artist I assure you boro glass can be opaque, after it's what lots of decorative glass beads are made out of....
@@mwater_moon2865 Thank you, this is an important nuance! I should have specified that thickness does not make a difference for pure glass, so it's the presence of other materials, not the thickness that's responsible for any visibility in the oil. I would be curious if different colors of glass appear differently in the oil, i.e. they play a role in scattering the light differently because of their intrinsic color
@@Turquise8 hmm, interesting idea, I may test with my soda lime glass which has a refractive index closer to water, (thus why glass in swimming pools is so dangerous) and being clear would interfere with a colorimeter less. Though I already know that SOME coatings/colorings on glass depend on reflected light, look up "dicro glass" for a fun example :D
I think they should rebrand with a symbol in their logos, with Borosilicate, maybe a flame symbol or oven, something that symbolises it can withstand heat, and sodalime, maybe a liquid symbol, something thats good for measuring or keeping cool foods in. Something as simple as that will show consumers instantly which glass is which while keeping their customers satisfied and buying more cookware, kitchenware and bakeware for the appropriate setting.
Can we all just respect Ann breaking her own cookware? Even some of her favourites. Great video! It did made me realise I have some sodalime dishes, but as I understood it is still safe to use them. But I won't be reheating things in them after I have put them in the fridge. Next time, I will put the food on a plate and reheat that way instead.
I use Pyrex from the fridge to the oven, just not *directly* from cold to hot. Like I made a friend some pot pies in glass pie dishes and cautioned them to never put the cold dish in the oven. Instead I told them to let it sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes to come to room temperature, then bake. It's a vintage ooooold pie plate and it works great for sharing meals with friends.
@@candice_ecidnacthat is what my grandmother told me to do in the 80s. I personally learned the no cold to hot with a cold beer glass in the 90s. But even in the 80s, this was a thing that I would like to say many housewives knew. My grandmother was smart, but not college educated. She knew not to do this, pyrex, PYREX, or not.
I have been using the same pyrex bakeware that my great grandmother used. Have never had a problem wwith anything shattering. I am now 56 years old and I inherited the pyrex bakeware when I was 22 years old
I’ve had 2 Pyrex dishes for over 10 years. I’ve never read the labels before but I have never attempted of cooling a dish on water. What a relief. I’m really glad my family hasn’t made that mistake either. Also I’ve never heard of people’s Pyrex just exploding when they used them. This is really important information and I’m glad I’ve watched this
I once made the mistake of trusting the Pyrex name to be borosilicate glass, until I put a then brand new dish from the fridge into an oven preheated to 250C, because all of the other Pyrex stuff I have could handle that just fine. Imagine my surprise when it shattered, and my annoyance at a wasted dinner and an oven that suddenly needed a deep clean. All of the Pyrex stuff I still have is either old or made in France. Once I found out that Pyrex does not mean borosilicate glass I stopped paying for the brand name. If I have to put in the effort to make sure that I am buying what I think I'm buying, because the brand uses 2 different kinds of glass, I just stop buying from that brand. I'd rather spend my time looking for a different brand that does actually make everything from borosilicate glass. We have a saying here "trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback", I don't trust Pyrex any more as a brand.
@@fermitupoupon1754 Just tonight I took my lamb roast that was seasoned overnight in the Pyrex dish in the refrigerator out and put it on the stovetop about an hour before I put it in the pre-heated oven, or I put it in the oven from the refrigerator and then let it and the oven pre-heat together.
@@lindalowe5592 that isn't an option for the dish I was making. It needs to be in the fridge during prep because the layers shouldn't mix too much, it ruins the texture. Keeping it cold keeps things relatively firm. The top most layer is also what is supposed to seal the moisture in, so that needs to bake pronto. That's why it goes from the fridge straight into a 250C oven. Then once the top has established, after 5-10 minutes, the oven is turned down to 180 in order to bake through.
@@fermitupoupon1754 I was glad to find this youtube. I just be over careful with the Pyrex and assume they are just a bit better than thinner glass. If I have any cold to hot, use a metal baking dish. No questions there. 😝
I wondered why i hadnt heard of this in the UK; Pyrex has a different manufacturer over here ( Arc International Cookware) and is always made of borosilicate glass. Seems you want to avoid anything made in the USA as they went for the cheap option.
Seems about right over here across the pond. Its pissing me off to have to replace everything anywhere from 1-5 years if I have bought it new in the last decade and not spent a fortune importing something made in another country. Makes me want to find refurbished old appliances and go thrift store shopping when I need to replace kitchen items!!! Its the old olive jar theory of manufacturing. Only these companies have removed all but a few olives and get mad when you complain its not the same anymore!!
Thanks for the info Ann. 🙂I have seen a TON of both PYREX and pyrex in the thrift stores here over the past few months. Either some folks are cleaning out their mom's or grandmom's kitchen, or they are just as confused as the rest of us on this. I've had both versions and never had an issue with them breaking, even when I have dropped them. I think it is just a good rule of thumb to not take something directly from heat to cold. You can even ruin your pans doing this. Always let items cool down before putting in fridge or cleaning.
It’s also important to be cautious going the other way, like bringing a dish a leftovers from the fridge or freezer directly to the oven. Check the directions on your bakeware (if possible) and give cold dishes time to warm up a bit while you preheat the oven.
@@PotatoPirate123Why? Literally just let it sit until it's cooled down. There's no reason not to, unless for some reason you're making dinner an hour before bed
When I was looking for a specific recipe online last year, one of the lowest reviews showed their square pyrex dish shattered inside the oven. That time, I was making your lemon bars recipe and didn't have a metalic/nonstick square pan and had small-lettered pyrexes more so that's what I used. When I was already on the lemon curd part, I waited for the glass dish and the biscuit base to cool before pouring it on top then preheated the oven again to resume baking. The next time my mother and I are getting glass-based dishes, I'll make sure to check if it's the original PYREX. Thank you so much for this, Ann.
I grew up with my mother's Pyrex which I believe is 1980s era borosilicate glass. It's never had any issues. When I was in university I got a pretty severe second degree burn from a temperature shock to a Pyrex dish that was in my flat share. It was exactly like the explosion of the easy hold cake tin in this, but it was full of hot liquid at the time. It wasn't submerged in cold water but it might have been onto a damp counter. I wish I had known that they changed the product to be less durable, and I could have avoided a nasty burn. Your videos are incredibly enlightening -- I think most people like to feel they're too sensible to injure themselves easily in the kitchen but it's only through watching your video that I realised this is likely what happened to me.
Be careful. While borosilicate glass is more resistant to thermal shock, it’s a LOT more brittle when it comes to physical shocks. Oxo sells some expensive borosilicate storage containers and they’re nice, but I’ve already lost two of them to physical damage. One of them I dropped onto a tile countertop and it EXPLODED into a rain of sharp glass shards all over my kitchen. I still occasionally sweep up shards from that three years later. I feel like tempered glass is probably safer for everyday use if you exercise caution to avoid heat shock.
Exactly, most people here seem to have jumped on the bandwagon, but don't really comprehend what they are talking about. For the average person, sodalime is FAR superior. Borosilicate simply allows you to build up bad habits, until you face the same end result, albeit, with a slightly worse outcome, as borosilicate is a lot more dangerous when it breaks.
I know they're attractive and hard-wearing but I've always thought that tile and granite counter tops were somewhat suboptimal and unforgiving as kitchen surfaces.
@@chaos.corner Stainless steel and solid-surface counter tops if you use a lot of glassware and ceramics, stones if you mainly use metal cookware. My new flat comes with a granite kitchen counter top. A thick honeycomb type silicone trivet saves my delicate borosilicate coffee pots and cups on countless occasions.
It sounds like it wasn't properly annealed to relieve the stress in the glass. I've dropped borosilicate glass from one of my favorite glass makers on concrete with no breakage.
I had a pyrex measuring cup explode inside a cabinet during the night, it was probably still warm from coming out of the dishwasher then insulated in the cupboard. We heard the explosion and searched the house, but didn’t find it until the next day. I’m so glad nobody was hurt! It was crazy!
I looked into this a while back, and came to basically the same conclusions. And, yeah, I'm viewing this from a consumer safety perspective. When Pyrex is saying "if you follow the directions, it doesn't explode", that's all well and good, but the directions include stuff like not taking your Pyrex baking dish from the oven and putting it on a cold surface. (Like, say, the top of the stove, which is the most obvious place to put a dish that you just removed from the oven.) And while I can't speak for anyone else, my instincts mean I literally can't follow that direction. When I take a dish out of the oven, it will end up on top of the stove, because that's where I put dishes that I've just removed from the oven. So, I stopped using Pyrex in the oven.
I wish I could like your videos multiple times because you’re always providing information everyone needs to hear! I bought pyrex years ago and absolutely loved them, but I can say I used them without fear because I fully trusted what they advertised. I had no clue they weren’t as durable as I thought. I luckily never broke any but it still blows my mind that I just thought they changed the logo and not that it was less durable and shatter resistant. Love so much Ann for all you do!
You are misunderstanding the video. Newer pyrex (sodalime) IS more durable and resistant. Much moreso than old borosilicate. It's just slightly less thermal shock resistant. It is still resistant to thermal shock, just not quite as much. If you break the new stuff, you could still easy have done so with the old stuff, as you are supposed to mitigate thermal shock with both types of glass. At least with new sodalime, it's hard to break by dropping or banging, and if it does break, is less likely to injure you.
@@john_titor1 I'd still take boroscillicate any day of the week, they're not at risk of shattering instantly with a few bangs over years of use. A forgetful mistake of thermal shock though and it's all gone with possibly a hot content ruining my oven/plate/wood kitchen boards ? Fuck that.
@@john_titor1t's not slightly less resistant to thermal shock, it's quite significant. As someone who does scientific lampworking (a kind of 'glassblowing' with mostly borosilicate), I can put a piece of borosilicate tubing directly infront of a strong oxy-propane (way hotter than just propane and air) flame directly from room temperature to start melting/forming and it has *never* broken (assuming there isn't any stress from previous shaping without annealing). Soda glass will explode immediately every time. A normal propane blowtorch (aka using air instead of pure oxygen w/ the gas) isn't even hot enough to melt borosilicate, boro will still survive being put directly in the _oxy-propane_ torch.
I like to draw crytal / clear objects and I must say the vegetable oil test you do really help me understand more about glass texture. your video amazing as always .
This video just proved me right! I haven’t used ANY Pyrex dishes at all for over 15 years now because I’ve had so many break on me after taking it out of the oven! I now have only been using the ceramic Corning ware dishes since and have never had it happen since! I don’t trust any glass dishes in the oven anymore!
I’m Dutch and I’ve seen Pyrex in stores here, so out of curiosity I checked online to see if they shared what glass it’s made of. They didn’t *say* what glass it was but I *did* see that they advertise themselves as being a French brand in the Netherlands, so that answers that I guess. 😂
@@madtabby66 The brand Pyrex is American, but as mentioned in the video, at some point a French company paid to be able to use the brand name as well. That's why I found it mildly funny that the Pyrex I found in stores advertises as being French and not American.
I dare say that's a bad change. I wasn't aware Pyrex was no longer borosilicate glass. A friend of mine posted how her Pyrex dish exploded a few months back. I suppose this explains it.
@@ChronoZero Keep in mind that these dishes are often passed down through generations, so the change filters into people's awareness more slowly than, say, the change to New Coke. I still have some of my grandmother's Pyrex dishes.
Overall, it is a GOOD change. They should have been more transparent about it however. But sodalime glass is tempered, therefore it is stronger and more durable, not to mention safer. For the vast majority of people, this is a better product, and it will last longer and reduce the amount and severity of glassware related injuries.
I remember, as a kid growing up in Australia, my mum brought home a full set of Pyrex plates big and small, bowls, mugs, tea cups and saucers etc. I distinctly remember my parents “discussing” her purchase and hearing her say that she had purchased it because it was “unbreakable”. After hearing that conversation, I was absolutely fascinated with these new items. Not long after, my school friend’s family also got a set of white and blue corningwear and that was also meant to be unbreakable - it must have really been quite a trend in the late 70s early 80s 🤣 I distinctly remember that I really wanted to test it out. I really wanted to see if it was unbreakable by dropping a bowl onto the outside laundry floor - it was a painted (possibly polished) concrete floor. I remember being really aware of this type of crockery and bakeware. I’d always notice it in other people’s houses. I never did test it out, but it was waaaaay to many years before I properly understood that it wasn’t actually unbreakable 😂😂 ...an embarrassingly long time to be honest. Ha ha - but as a little kid, hearing those words, that something was unbreakable, I 100% believed that it could not be broken. I was fascinated and a little afraid all at the same time. It was like some real life magic existed and it was in MY house. Just downstairs in the kitchen cupboard. 🙂🐿🌈❤️
Hahaaaa, I think concrete probably would have taken a plate out! But I have dropped several Corningware / Corelle plates and bowls onto lino and had them survive no worries, which is nice
I sure hope some of the dishes you liked which were destroyed in the tests are still available to buy! Thanks for your dedication to your craft Ann. You are truly an inspiration.
@@andalinta uh.. nope. Sodalime isn't a random bomb.. it's actually stronger and safer overall, and considering she understands the physics involved, she knows how to avoid breaking the glass, by minimizing thermal shock, which you should be doing for any glass, borosilicate included.
I feel so bad that you had to break your glassware! And especially your favourite pie dish!!!! Thank you so much for doing this so we can all be safe and take appropriate precautions! Really really really appreciate all your effort (and broken glass) that went into keeping us safe
Yes! Although I think it speaks a bit to her option… for the video and viewers, but maybe a tiny bit of “well not so sure I want to take the risk with this dish anyways…” in there as well! Pure speculation though.
I did some digging into this a few months ago after I had one explode. My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that PYREX & pyrex are two different brands. PYREX (originally owned by Corning) is the original company and used borosilicate glass, while pyrex came out later and used soda-lime glass. So, for a while, you could tell the difference by looking for PYREX vs pyrex. Then PYREX changed the glass they used to soda-lime (80's? 90's?) to save money. So now, PYREX & pyrex are mostly the same. Except in France, where I think PRYEX is licenced by another company and is still borosilicate glass. I'm also going to stress because the video only touched on it briefly. DO NOT EVER put your hot glassware on a cool surface. Put it on a couple of potholders or a folded kitchen towel. I learned this the hard way with a $70 roast.
Not quite right! Ann explains this herself at 7:30 in this very video. The lowercase pyrex and uppercase PYREX aren't 'two different brands', they are just a modern rebrand that came about after the transition to soda lime started. So while it doesn't guarantee what it's made of, it's a good starting place: - If the logo is lowercase, it is newer and almost certainly uses the soda lime. - But if the logo is uppercase, it COULD be old and the good borosilicate, but it doesn't guarantee it!! (It could easily be soda lime)
@@cipherhexhis doesn't hold true everywhere. In Europe all pyrex has the uppercase in an oval logo, even the version not made in France. The French version has french flags on the packaging, but even the non french version uses the 'old' logo. It's extremely confusing and dangerous Edit - apparently in Europe all pyrex is Boro, the soda glass plant shut down decades ago and PYREX is only made in France. US imported pyrex may exist around, and may be soda glass. Simply only buy the version with the french flags on.
I don't get why people are putting ANY glass on cold (stone!) counters when as Ann showed, even boro will shatter from heat shock. My Granma never used soda lime a day in her life and if I even though of setting hot glass on a wooden counter top I'm pretty sure my hearing would have been permanently damaged from the scream of "NO!!!"...
I had a Pyrex dish explode on the table. It was on a pot holder, and had been out of the over quite a while. I’m just glad none of us were hurt because glass went all over the kitchen.
I remember when I was around 6 my mother was making jelly and poured boiling water in a glass dish that wasn't a pyrex dish and I will never forget how it just exploded everywhere! Luckily none of us were hurt but it left a very strong impression on me and I've been very careful with glass cookware since.
Had a similar experience in my teens (1970s). My mother was making jams and jellies. For some reason I've never understood, she put a large glass (Pyrex, I think) bowl on the cooktop. This was a gas cooktop, by the way. The bowl shattered. One piece cut my foot. Needless to say, neither of us ever repeated that mistake.
@@bonniechance2357 You can actually put some glassware directly on the gas. Glass ceramics, but not borosilicate or soda lime, can actually do that successfully (with care, there are some restrictions). Glass ceramic is also used for induction cooktops. You can be frying food at more than 250C on one heater, and place a bag of frozen peas next to it, and the glass top will laugh at you.
@@bonniechance2357 the glass door on my mother's oven shattered recently. I know another person who had glass shower panels in her bathroom just suddenly shatter too. I wonder is the quality not as good anymore in the glass used in these things.
I was helping a friend make some jam once and she was using a glass thermometer to monitor the temperature. She then asked me if it was safe to wash the thermometer immediately, then did it anyway before I said "no let it cool down before you put it under water" and, well, she learnt it was not safe.
was struggling to fall asleep before work and decided to check youtube one more time and i'm so grateful i did!! normally i watch first thing in the morning but it's so exciting to be here immediately'
This is the most informative video I've seen on the subject. It was straight to the point in recapping and spent no time delving into the additional details involving the subject. Thank you.
The Pyrex situation is fascinating, though a good way to avoid shattering bakeware is to not use it at all. Metal bakeware is lighter, less expensive, flexible without shattering, browns effectively, easier to clean, and they're not as curvy so the relative volume capacity of the bakeware is higher
Eh, some recipes require you to have light or barely used bakewear, other recipes want you to have dark or heavily used bakewear, and that's without going into the potential reactiveness of certain recipes. It also retains heat for longer, for better or for worse. Both metal and glass bakeware have their place and uses.
You don't want everything to brown, and I strongly disagree with the "easier to clean", but yes metal bakeware is one of the tools I use in my kitchen.
Glassware makes heat travel slower to whatever's being cooked in it, so it has certain appropriate usages, where one could be beneficial over metal bakeware. If I'm not mistaken, Ann has already done a video on this topic.
@@kenshinbattousai374 Well, its much cheaper to make and is more durable... until it isnt. Glassware has uses but I think that metal and ceramic is just better.
This is a fascinating comparison of dishes! while some chemistry classes would specify borosilicate glasses for procedures, plenty of other classes simply said pyrex and definitely meant the sturdier line. Thanks for exploring and explaining the material science here! It's amazing how much this kind of "niche" science affects so many fields and everyday usage.
You’re so soothing that I used to use your baking videos to fall asleep, but your recent content has been so fascinating that it’s definitely viewing for when I’m awake.
this is so thorough, and really respects the viewer's intelligence. I'm annoyed that now, I wouldn't bother with the soda lime - borosilicate or nothing. I don't have room for baking dish duplicates that have different temperature treatment. Also, mad respect for your pie dish's sacrifice
Just never use it if it's scratched!! That's how glass artists cut glass, we scratch it along the line we want it to break on (then hope and pray it will follow JUST that line while we flex it) And NEVER forget that boro is still prone to temperature shock, just like Ann's break at 12:40, and the shards WAY more dangerous to clean up if it does break. (put the large pieces in a thick paper bag the use a damp, twice-folded paper towel to wipe up shards up to anything within line of sight, the shards are more like slivers and can fly over 20 feet... and NEVER touch the shards with your bare hands, boro scalpels are still sometimes used for surgery because they're sharper than metal can get and won't dull over a long surgery)
Really? That's what you took from this? After she explained how much more fragile the borosilicate is and how dangerous the breaks are? Maybe you're the world's most careful cook, but I can't tell you how many times I've bumped my soda-lime dishes on the oven when taking them out. Also, I throw the small dishes in my lunch bag and backpack all the time and I can tell you they can take a LOT of abuse. The point is, the limitations of each of these materials are different. You should use them where they make the most sense. If you want to premake a lasagna and keep it in the fridge overnight before baking - probably go with borosilicate. If you want to teach your small children to bake, probably go with the soda-lime for safety.
@@EmilyFuger Yeah, that was my takeaway, don't have kids and haven't experienced breaks except when straight up dropping things. I also already have much bigger metal trays anyway. so yeah, my point stands, I don't want to double up on trays for different qualities
That’s insane, I thought Pyrex products were all made the same way. Thank you so much Ann, this is one of the most informative video I’ve seen in months ❤
In about 1993-ish, I had the amber-colored Pyrex stovetop cookware set. I was new to glass cookware and didn't realize that you couldn't go from stovetop to cold water, like you could metal. Yeah, broke my favorite saucepan. My husband at the time said, "Yeah, you can do that with glass!" I was young and didn't know. LOL! Lesson learned!
I’ve got the full set (they were my grandmothers) I believe you’re referring to the Corningware Visions line. They’re by far my favorite but I did have one knockoff covered baking dish an idiot family member decided to use on the stove top. It obviously shattered .
My amber cookware did the same thing but it shattered just taking it out of the oven and letting it cool atop the stove. I was so pissed off that when the second one crackled- i threw them all away.
One of my wedding presents in 1988 was a set of that amber-colored cookware. It was Corning Visions, and I should've just returned it to Costco or wherever (probably Price Club that long ago). The usage instructions were super picky, and I already had stainless steel cookware that didn't need to be babied. Who needs a saucepan that can't be used with a metal potato masher and isn't even non-stick? Or that will shatter if I use room temperature liquid to deglaze the brown on the bottom?
French viewer here! I was unaware of the difference between borosilicate and soda-lime pyrex, the former we mostly own here, at the point that the Wikipedia page for Pyrex in french language doesn't even mention soda-lime products. I'll be even more cautious in the future when buying these products thanks to your video. As of the state of the manufacturer, it is indeed hit pretty hard by inflation rates, mainly the rise in energy prices, and a slight drop in sales. It is not yet filing for bankruptcy but mainly reducing production and projecting a partial unemployment period for its workforce in the course of the year.
@@Person01234 But it's not better. They just have different use cases. In fact, the "US" kind, tempered sodalime, is actually arguably better for the average consumer. It is stronger, and more resilient to physical trauma, and when it does break, it breaks in a much safer manner than borosilicate. Seeing as most accidents involving glassware are from physical damage, making it physically more durable is better than more thermal shock tolerant, especially since you should minimize thermal shock with any glassware anywyas.
@@john_titor1 Did you watch the video because that's not really the results she got. And this also ignores that people expect it to be heat resistant, that is the point of the pyrex branding. If people wanted tougher glass, they could buy one with an association for toughness. European pyrex is the "better stuff" for heat resistance and misleading consumers because you think you know what's better for them than they do is garbage.
@@Person01234 Did YOU watch the video? because that is exactly what she stated in the video... No glass is thermal shock proof. Should they have been clearer about the change to sodalime? Probably. But it was also over 30 years ago, i'm not really sure what they did or didn't do to make people aware of the changes. Either way, all glass should be treated carefully. You should always minimize thermal shock. If you follow those basic precautions, you'd not have any issues. Borosilicate breaks from thermal shock too, it's not magic. As for better or worse, again, it's about purpose. And statistically, you have a better time arguing in favor of the more durable sodalime glass, as physical shocks account for the vast majority of glassware accidents. Not to mention that it is much safer in the event of a break as well.
@@john_titor1 I did watch the video and I know what she stated. But because I watched the video I also saw what her tests showed. Not rocket science. You might want to actually watch the video then come back and pretend like there's not a significant functional difference between how the two handle thermal shock. People have had these things exploding somewhat regularly from normal use. They aren't taking them from a lava bath and throwing them into a moon of jupiter. People do not have borosilicate pyrex exploding on them left and right. Also stop liking your own comments.
I'm sorry you had to sacrifice your favorite pie dish for science. Genuinely love the debunking videos, hope it's giving great traction for your channel!
I clearly remember the first time I had a pyrex dish break on me (Thanksgiving 2010) and how shocked I was when it happened. It's comforting to understand the reason now, at least!
I always buy Pyrex because I trusted the brand. A few years ago, a baking dish exploded in my over and my first thought was--"I must have accidently bought a different brand, thinking it was Pyrex". Now I'm wondering if it was, in fact, Pyrex. From now on I'm only buying the Made in France label.
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means. The only benefit borosilicate has for you is that it lets you build bad habits, but it will break all the same, eventually, but more dangerously than the tempered sodalime.
So really a case of "They don't make them like they used to". I am glad that i got some kitchen-ware when a nearby school closed. Nice and simple metal tool - not just thin stamped metal but with a nice heft to them..... and some of them have manufacturing-dates on them showing they pre-date WW2. Funny thing when you have not thrown away anything that is not younger than your self.
Due to my years of lab work, thick borosilicate glass is my preference for cookware. USA-made Pyrex is great for refrigerating leftovers in once they've cooled down a bit (thick glass = no odor retention & resistance to breaking), but not for reheating them straight from the fridge! Some of the borosilicate glass kitchenware items one can buy are delicate & easily shattered by bumping, even if they endure heat changes well. I always just assume that if I'm buying it & it doesn't explicitly say borosilicate then it won't hold up to abrupt temperature changes. Your experiments are fascinating, but I don't think I'm going to be trying out my thrift store glassware purchases in a clear tub of vegetable oil... Thanks for another excellent presentation, Ann -- you got a glass splinter & destroyed your favourite fluted pie dish for us! Such dedication!
Correct. The best borosilicate is only able to handle about 250-300 degrees of rapid change. Soda lime is about 100. So both will have problems being placed directly into a 425F oven. If you are using any glassware in an oven do NOT pre-heat it. Put it in and bring it up to temperature. Adjust cooking times accordingly. :)
I just bought that “pretty pie dish” from a secondhand shop yesterday and got it because it was older and I assumed would be the real deal. I’m glad to see through your testing it likely is! Mine is labelled that it’s made by Corning in the USA.
"real deal". This doesn't make sense. None of this stuff is fake. Sodalime is just safer and more resilient overall, whereas borosilicate is slightly more resilient to thermal shock, leading people to pick up bad, dangerous habits.
@@john_titor1it does make sense..you knew what she meant, I knew and so does everyone else and YES fake is the correct word since someone else is MAKING it different than the original.
@@john_titor1 sorry I didn’t feel like typing out “borosilicate” first thing in the morning. Clearly I meant that I was happy it appears to have the characteristics I would associate with older Pyrex - like not exploding
Wow, learned a lot about Pyrex today. I was always raised hearing that Pyrex was better and safer so I’ve always bought it. I have never seen those guidelines from the manufacturer and I definitely could have ended up with a glass explosion. Thank you for always looking out for our safety!
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cook ware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 I didn't mean to say that it's bad or worse than anything else. I just thought for whatever reason that Pyrex was supposed to hold up against thermal shock better than other glassware. So it was good to learn more about the different types of glass and what can happen. I would definitely rather have it break into less dangerous pieces, but now I feel a little better equipped to prevent it breaking in the first place!
@@john_titor1 Not sure if it's safer as a measuring cup though. If a borosilicate shattered in your hand as you poured hot water into it, it has a lot less energy and would tend to fall to the ground, whereas the tempered glass can react more violently sending the glass along with the hot water everywhere. In both instances you could still get shards of glass in your skin and be burned but one is probably more likely to cut you (on your hands, legs, and feet) and the other is more likely to get you burned (anywhere on your body). I'd probably take my chances holding onto sharp glass in my hand then have tempered glass and hot water fly into my face though.
@@Dean..... If you are measuring extremely hot liquids, i might agree. Which is why we prefer borosilicate in many beakers/lab equipment that might be used with extreme temps. Although i will state, that the idea of non tempered glass falling on my feet is not a preferable one. At least in labs, you are always wearing safety gear, shoes, etc, so the glass is less likely to injure you, which kinda negates some of the downside of the borosilicate, unlike at home, where you are often barefoot.
That's so weird! Going over all those rules, they're exactly the ones that my mother taught me about any glass or ceramic cooking dish, but I never knew why. Turns out my mom was just a stickler for rules, and also went out of her way to read them because I've never seen Pyrex state those either.
I love how systematically scientific you are in your analysis of everything. For example warning people that something may be an opinion when you can't back it up. Also the empirical testing you do.
I think one contributing factor in these types of accidents is the counters. Stone countertops have increased in popularity and the temperature shock of putting a hot dish directly on stone is much greater than laminate countertops.
I am baffled by the popularity of stone countertops, perhaps because I am clumsy and drop things a lot. However, wouldn't a 350F casserole melt or burn the laminate?
@@splendidcolors It may depend on the particular variety of laminate, but I have seen this done many times with no ill effects. It does go against the recommendations though, so perhaps it's still not a good idea.
Ann, I love the level of detail that you put into these types of videos. Thank you for continuing to make these sort of videos as they're hugely valuable for regular consumers :)
Now I know why my newer baking dish exploded when I went to deglaze the pan but the old on I inherited (after I had bought one myself) works fine. Deglazing a roasting pan right after removing the meat is something I learned from my grandmother to aid cleanup.
At least 50-60% of the glassware we used in the lab during my bsc/msc were pyrex branded. But that stuff is also really expensive compared to regular baking supplies
Do you have pyrex dishes at your house? Have any shattered?
Thanks to HOLZKERN for sponsoring: www.holzkern.com/en_world/howtocookthat Get 15% off with the code: COOKTHAT15. ⌚👜🕶
First
Anyway, I love your channel, but hate the recommended after binging your content
I have a Pyrex measuring jug
It hasn’t exploded………… yet
My exploding Pyrex story is that I had a small bottle of honey that had crystallized which I put upside down in a very small Pyrex dessert cup and put the two into the microwave for 10 seconds, with the intention of softening the honey and having it flow down into the dish. Unfortunately there was still a tiny fleck of the original metallic seal on the top of the bottle, so when I put the bottle upside down in the dish that piece of metal was in contact with the Pyrex, and after just a few moments in the microwave that metal flashed blue (I’m guessing it was a tiny plasma explosion) and that put thermal stress into the glass (I saw the blue flash and immediately stopped the microwave, but it had already happened…) when I picked up the dish something about me touching it caused it to shatter. Fortunately enough honey had run down the sides of the bottle into the dish that the homey held the glass together enough that pieces didn’t go flying. The dish was my grandmother’s, and she died in 1962, so it might possibly have been soda lime, but more likely is borosilicate. I’m not home right now, but when I get home in a few hours I will check one of the others from the set and see which it is.
(And to clarify, this happened many years ago, before I started eating a vegan diet, so that’s why I had honey in the house)
I have quite a few, and have had many more over the years, none of which have ever broken, other than being dropped.
But I would never set a hot glass dish of any kind on a cold surface. I did have a set of "pans", made of brown tinted clear glass, that had no problems with being directly on burners, I had an electric stove at that time so not on a flame.
I've always used Pyrex in the oven and under the broiler and have never put liquid under meats. Never had an issue.
As someone who works with chemicals, their recent rebrand has caused a lot of safety issues in labs. There should be NO CONFUSION about whether a piece of glassware that could be holding some very hot, very volatile and very dangerous products is safe or not.
I did notice that some of my glassware doesn't have a pyrex label but does say "borosilicate" glass on it. It is concerning though since it would mean they are deciding which pieces they think we will heat/cool drastically and which we won't...
It's a real consumer safety problem! It's a shame that in the US consumer safety is only valued if it will cause harm to the company.
@@zacmea Although you could argue that this would cause just that. If people are buying pyrex cookware for their heat resistance, and the change from borosilicate means that their dishes are exploding from regular usage, you would think that would hurt the company image.
I wonder if they don't want to advertise that they changed how they make their glassware because so many people buy Pyrex because it used to be known to be heat resistant and all that. So if they make it much more clear that their glassware can't be used the same as old Pyrex glassware was used, they'll lose on sales. So instead they just put a small warning on the label so when people call to complain, they can say "Well you should have read the labels before using it".
This is not a "recent" rebrand. They started using soda ash glass decades ago in the US when Corning sold the brand. The original font is the same as on the borosilicate French products so that's how to tell the difference.
I was pleasantly surprised to discover that IKEAs “365” line of glass food storage products is made from borosilicate, and they don’t even advertise it. It’s incredible that even basic tupperware style containers from a furniture store is more Pyrex than Pyrex is.
wow that’s a great thing to know! probably better to just buy them from ikea rather than second guess if pyrex is really proper pyrex
Good to know! I have other non-PYREX glass dishes which serve me well so far, but then I do handle them responsibly, no matter what they are made of.
Yeah, it's great to make food in them and then just put the lid on when it's cooled, less mess!
Good to know, will investigate.
I came to the comments looking for something like this, thank you! I have a glass dish from IKEA. Based on the options on the website I’m guessing it is “MIXTUR.” How can I find out what type of glass it’s made from? All I see online is the following, under “Materials and Care”
*Material*
Heat resistant glass
*Care*
Microwave-safe.
Dishwasher-safe.
Oven-safe - withstands temperatures up to 536 °F.
In 2020 I was taking chemistry and we were doing an at-home lab (due to covid) and the teacher, who has a PhD in chemistry, told us that we could put Pyrex on the stove top because that's what beakers are made of. Something about the way my baking dish felt made me skeptical that it was the same stuff and thankfully I googled it before putting it on the gas range. I should probably send this video to her!
you can feel the difference between beakers and pyrex. The beakers are so much stronger despite their thinness and im not scared of breaking them.
Your youtube name was mentioned in the video LOL!
It used to be borosilicate. They stopped like 5-10 years ago to make more profit.
Absolutely! Send it
The sheer dedication of this woman in sacrificing her glassware for the safety of the internet people.
Her favorite glass pie dish! 😭😭😭
I was impressed because it showed something else very important: the fact that it didn't matter if it was soda lime or boro silicate IT STILL BROKE WHEN SHOCKED. NO glass is impervious. And as a glass artist I know that the most likely predictor of if glass will break is a score (scratch) or chip, that's HOW we cut glass (Yes, even boro). Those "old" logo pieces are in fact just as dangerous or MORE SO because scratches tend build up as it's used over time.
It's an investment. I imagine she's gonna get much more money from this video than the glassware's worth
@@_AbhiRam_ it sure is. No one thinks otherwise, she runs a gente business. But there was no need to sacrifice her favorite dish, for an exemple. Some things can't be replaced, no matter how much money you get for it
@@StraveTube lets all send her pie dishes to replace the broken one
Can we just talk about how she used her own favorite, pretty pie dish in this experiment?!?! Ann, that's real dedication to your viewers!! Because I wouldn't have done it. So thank you very much for putting your safety and your own bake ware on the line for us! (I know she did it as safely as possible, but still, some of those dishes shattered FAST.)
I came to the comments to say the same thing! Kudos to her for her dedication in keeping us safe in the kitchen.
Could be she thought it was borosilicate so by shattering, it was dead to her anyway.
Well, she isn't exactly poor. I am sure she already bought a replacement.
I came to the comments to say this but I'm honestly sad. It was her favorite pie dish! It wasn't THAT necessary to test every single one, we were getting the gist that the color method wasn't reliable 😭
I thought that was sad too, I'm a very sentimental person 😅❤
Ann destroying her favorite baking dishes in very dangerous experiments for our safety. You're a legend.
4:06 - *THIS!* The problem is not that they make the Soda-Lime glass; it's that they stopped making the Borosilicate glass without even changing the packaging so people were/are completely caught off-guard. Great video as always!
I believe there is a difference PYREX (all caps) is still the original material, like she bought in France. Pyrex (lowercase) is everything else. They just never bothered to tell everyone. 🤐 shame 🫤
@@jennoq1311Did you see the video at 7:30? That's probably a myth. My experience also is it's not a reliable indicator, some of the Made in the USA stuff from 10-20 years ago is soda-lime but still has the uppercase logo.
PYREX is different than Pyrex.
@@billyyank5807 No didn’t you see at 7:34 she goes on to say that the company used both fonts in and out for both types of glass over the years.
I dunno if Ann mentioned this bc I haven't watched the whole vid yet, but the best way to tell is if the glass is blue tinted or not. If not (& the logo is in all caps), then it is borosilicate.
A moment of silence for all of Ann's poor Pyrex dishes that was lost in the making of this episode.
Thank you for all your hard work, Ann!
No, they deserved to break.
@@malcolm_in_the_middleshe did lose her favorite fluted pie plate which I imagine has served her well for years. It may not have passed the break test but it probably could have withstood the creation of many more pies
The dedication is unparralleled. Losing a favorite baking dish is hard and she did it for SCIENCE!
All those pretty dishes!!! 🥹😢😭
I felt bad about the pie dish that she said was her favorite shattering
It's the fact that it's shattering WHILE IN THE OVEN that gets me. People in comments are saying they preheated and had the bottom covered and everything, so I'm at a loss. I use an old hand me down pyrex dish for baking, but I am glad to know that I will have to be aware if I ever need to buy a new glass dish.
I would guess the glas was not heated / de-stressed enough, basicly saving energy cost by not heating it to close to its melting point after the initial casting of the form to de-stress it.
There preheating the glass then dumping cold ingredients
About 10yrs ago my housemate and I had a pyrex casserole dish EXPLODE. It did go into the tempered break style and it went everywhere. From memory we took it out of the oven and I think onto the stove top frame that was not on, would have been room temperature... we weren't physically hurt, just emotionally as we lost a whole chicken rice dinner dish my housemate just cooked.
that is just the worst
I was thinking about that too, and your case seems to me that the part about stove top and all others were about their heat conductivity and not about the difference in temperature. Heat conductivity will change the temperature of what touches them pretty fast, hence why your skin feels that they're cool when they're not even chilled because our body is warmer than most room temperature
I had the same happen with a dish full of chicken enchiladas. My husband set in on the stove top and it shattered.
had the same thing happen to me. Just sitting at room temperature, and KABLAMMO, exploded
It's about rapid change in temperature, not absolute temperature. If you take a hot dish and place it on a room temperature surface, especially one with high thermal conductivity like a metal cook top, it's going to be more likely to break.
It is deeply irresponsible for a company to drastically change the way their product functions without notifying consumers, especially when the consequences of the product failing can include oven-hot liquids and shattered glass splashing all over unexpectedly! Especially when you take into consideration that it's a product that has gone unchanged for generations of consumers, PYREX's silence on the change seems to constitute negligence.
Pyrex changed it so it cant be used to cook drugs
@@MrMexicanarmylol yeah sure 😑
Poppycock. You should be using both versions with the same level of care. If you’re subjecting either type of glass to extreme temperature changes it’s you who’s being irresponsible.
Pyrex sold out to a different out of country company they changed the way it was made to make it cheaper to produce.
@@MrMexicanarmyNot true, the company sold out to an out of country company and they changed how it's made to cut costs.
I had this happen as I was making buttermilk quark. I was lucky none of the exploding glass cut me. "Pyrex" sent me a replacement measuring bowl, which claimed its plastic lid was microwavable. It was not. It melted after about a minute.
One thing I appreciate about Ann is her commitment to safety. She always gives ample warnings and you can see she takes a lot of her own precautions.
In the laboratory, we would use UV light. The reason it didn't do anything when you checked is that the soda lime Glass blocks UV but borosilicate will let it pass, so in your test they appear the same but if you put the uranium glass under the Pyrex then shine the UV light on it through the Pyrex you should see the difference. This should work with anything flourescent (not just uranium glass)
That's very interesting. Thanks for sharing!
But soda lime only blocks UVA, it'll still pass UVB, which is why you also have to have the right kind of UV lamp.
(and why sitting next to a window you aren't likely to get sunburned, but you will still get wrinkles and faded clothing)
@@mwater_moon2865 Intersting thought but I just tried that. Soda-lime seems to pass my UVA-I source without any effect. I used a 395 to 400 nm LED flashlight through boro (my Silex coffee pot featuring true PYREX brand boro), an Anchor measuring cup, a newish pyrex soda-lime pie plate and an OXO acrylic for reference. The vaseline glass, a toothpick holder with better than 500 mr/hr of beta activity, glowed brightly regardless. Maybe it can block UVB-II or UVB but I don't have those light sources handy.
@@antilogism 400 is just borderline UVA - it is already visible.
@@mwater_moon2865 no? The other way around - sodalime is transparent to UVA but opaque (blocks them) to shorter wavelength like UV-B and UV-C.
My mom always told us never to put a hot ANYTHING - PYREX, cast iron, FireKing, even stainless or aluminum pot - straight into cold water or ot would break or warp. I have accidentally warped metal and shattered glass. But I love my old PYREX and use it daily. I have many pieces of 70 yr old PYREX still going strong, but I am careful not to suddenly shock it in either temperature direction. Ann, you deserve a handsome reward for all the info you provide, all the meticulous testing & filming, all the clean-up your magnificent videos require. Youre the best!🎉
Yes, I've heard cast iron can crack if the hot pan is put into cold water or if cold water is added. Crazy.
I bet that's why your bakeware is still around decades later! Borosilicate is definitely a lot more resistant to thermal stress, but not immune. Small chips and cracks in the glass can still act as an origin point for a full shattering when combined with a lot of thermal stress. So a new dish can probably handle the full temperature shock, but one with chips can shatter under mild conditions because the fault line can start and grow at that defect.
The ones that shatter on first use probably came shipped with a scratch, or maybe had some substandard annealing. They can't all be winners!
Who does
I started to follow you YEARS ago for the incredibly well filmed cake and chocolate designs. You are a perfect example of a channel that evolves past its origins successfully, as you have informed and entertained us ever since. You have gone on to save lives and stuff even with your content.
It goes to show it's not JUST the steady subject matter, it's who is doing it. Which means you are fab at doing anything.
I really appreciate this direction of you doing a video about whatever moves you. May your channel live forever! :)
Much love from Finland
Thanks so much for your support and understanding that channels have to evolve over time Julia 😀
I agree with you Julia, it beats me how Ann is able to deliver better and better videos each time. Love from Brazil.
@@HowToCookThat Wait, so no more recipes? Was this announced previously?
@@HOTD108_no, she still does recipes occasionally
Same I subscribed years ago and I really appreciate the evolution and commitment to well researched, informative videos. Food science is fascinating!
I used to be a private chef, cooking dinners at people's houses. one time I made a dish that took me about a day to prepare, used a soda-lime pyrex and... you can guess the rest... this happened years ago and I still remember how awful I felt then. you're completely right, how should we know what kind of pyrex it is when it has the same exact name and it's already out of the package?
That's why public announcements are so important but if they did that they know they'd lose sales.
Not to mention the amount of Pyrex acquired through family or 2nd hand stores. No original packaging left there!
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 Even tho you basically copy pasted that, after browsing these comments for a little while, that seems to be the general consensus, and more people need to know.
In fact, while this video is a great PSA on the dangers of the soda-lime glass, there now needs to be another video on the dangers of borosilicate glass, which might sway some people, myself included, that soda-lime actually is better.
@@john_titor1 I know that for me, I'm far more likely to shove my room temp Pyrex into a hot oven, or put it down on a cool surface after it's done cooking. In fact, that's how I broke my borosilicate Pyrex measuring cup. On the other hand, plenty of others will drop theirs, and that's perfectly legit too. It's important to know your own flaws as well as the flaws of the glass.
I had a brand new set of Pyrex. The first time I used the smaller one it exploded in the oven. There was no extreme temperature change. Mixed up brownie batter, put it in a room temperature dish, into a preheated oven. About 5-10 minutes later it exploded.
That sucks =[
well, 70F into 350 F is a fair jump in temperature... thermal shock goes both ways. Still, it's not good that these new Pyrex dishes are not nearly as good as their precursors but seem to be relying upon that name to sell.
@@magmafeesh1828 Ann showed in the video (6:28) that Pyrex's own instructions say to put it in a fully preheated oven, OP literally followed manufacturer instructions (that weren't even well known) and it still exploded
@@ecoonrad4753 I hadn't gotten to that part of the video yet (an interesting statement - and yes, I do fall into the group that has not heard those warnings regarding glassware) but I still stand by my statement of thermal shock. In the case above, it was likely a defect in the material (microcrack) plus the rapid temperature change that caused the break. Although I can see why they advise not to put room temperature glass in a heating oven (uneven heating is a major cause of thermal shock) a sharp rate of temperature change can ALSO cause thermal shock (which is why you don't take your soda lime from fridge to oven - that extra 20/40 degrees is crucial to keeping stresses more balanced in the material).
Those brownies were so good, the pyrex glass couldnt handle it
I remember learning the hard way that today's pyrex is not my grandma's pyrex. I often used a pyrex measuring cup to save broth or potato/pasta water. We always joked about how they were second only to cast iron for durability. I poured some hot water into a newer pyrex and the whole thing broke apart. It felt like reality shattered.
As the saying goes, "They just don't make them like they used to."
After looking at this i'm even more grateful for the pyrex i had from my grandma when i got my first appartment. None of them shatered even the giant measuring cup is still alive ( using it for broth and stuff like you said )
@@animagoldsmith1970 I think this is why so many of us didn't know about the change even decades later--too many of us inherited them.
@@stevenalexander4721 The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cook ware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and less likely to break conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
My Pyrex is literally my grandmother's Pyrex. &if it ever breaks, I think I'll just buy some vintage stuff from an antique shop or Etsy.
that beaker disappearing in the vegetable oil while you can still see the engraved measurements was so interesting
Reminded me of an episode of Doctor Who with Peter Capaldi.
I think the measurements were painted on.
I think something that needs pointing out when it comes to the online videos of people's dishes exploding is that in at least some places in the US, "Pyrex" became the colloquial name for any kind of glass bakeware. So when someone has a video that says "my Pyrex dish exploded", I take it with a grain of soda-lime wether they have a real Pyrex dish, or just some glass bakeware from Wal-Mart.
Good point!
Yes, saying "My Anchor-Hocking dish exploded" just doesn't have the same impact.
Points for "grain of soda-lime". That made me smile.
This comment should be getting more attention! I completely agree that there's bound to be some level of confusion created by that.
People use Pyrex the same way they use Velcro and Duck tape lol Always have to be cautious about claims for sure.
I've been baking and cooking in Pyrex for several decades, and the only breakage I've ever had was directly related to "droppage." After watching this (thanks for another great video, Ann!) I realize I'm fortunate that most of my Pyrex is even older than I am, including my blue cooking pots/pans with removable handles. I think it was a very poor choice for the company to retain the name Pyrex but effectively reduce or remove qualities for which their product is best known.
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 But the thing is... If i have, i dunno. A famous coffee drink company or whatever, that only uses non dairy milk, and then after years of that I change to regular dairy without letting people know (besides a tiny change on the back label)... That's kinda incredibly shitty.
Also I personally find sodalime way more dangerous. Since you know, it explodes from regular use. Going from the oven to a room temperature countertop should _not_ be an extreme temperature change.
(Unless you're clumsy anyway. I don't think I've ever dropped any of my glassware for baking or like, storage. Only a few plates and regular glasses. No wait I did break a canning jar once, though, it was by accidentally shoving a spoon through it from the inside, not dropping it.)
@@MsLilly200 Firstly, i agree, they should have done a better job of notifying of the change in properties. However, it was over 30 years ago by now.
Secondly, it's not a subjective thing. Sodalime is objectively safer. It doesn't randomly explode from regular use. It only "explodes" due to extreme thermal shock, which happens to borosilicate as well. Going from oven temp to room temp IS an extreme difference, wanting it to be otherwise doesn't change thermodynamics, but it's also about the time it takes to do so. Even borosilicate glass will shatter if you go from 400F to 70F too fast, i.e. into an ice water bath. You are supposed to minimize thermal shock with any glass, including borosilicate. Even still, this "exploding glass" is safer than borosilicate, because the shards are smaller, rounder, and less sharp than borosilicate, by a significant margin.
Not sure what your last paragraph is supposed to mean, but im assuming you are trying to state that the tempered strength of sodalime isn't as important as the slight increase in thermal shock resistance in borosilicate. But statistics prove that wrong. The VAST majority of glassware accidents occur from physical/mechanical shock, not thermal. Unless you are working in a lab, you don't really need high thermal shock resistant glass, and it tends to just build bad habits. If you still prefer to deal with borosilicate for cookware, that's fine, you do you. Just realize that statistically, you are more likely to injure yourself or break your cookware.
@@john_titor1 Well, I guess you could be right about the general population. It's not like I've looked at the statistics.
Also... Um... To me smaller shards just sounds more dangerous than big ones. Just like, instinctively. Because if the shards are big, you can find and pick them up easily as long as you're careful, while smaller shards are harder to find and you might step on them, or your pets might like, eat them.
I guess my immediate thought doesn't really account for like, dropping it on the floor and the shards flying around at great speeds and maybe cutting/impaling you.
The drinking glasses and plates I _have_ dropped probably have some kind of tempering to make dropping them safer and I just haven't really thought about that before now.
@@john_titor1 if sodalime is objectively safer, why don't they use it in stuff like science beakers? :) Also do you work for pyrex? lol, you're in like every sigle comment desperately defending them
Dear Ann, Thanks for the info about changes in Pyrex wares. I am in the USA and did NOT know there had been a change in the product.
I feel so badly that you sacrificed your fav pie pan as well as other pieces for this experiment.
I have not experienced any breakage, but most of my pyrex is 35 - 50 years old. I also have some even older pieces inherited from relatives. I will be passing this info on to the younger generations in my family who most likely will be impacted.
LUV your videos!
Hi Ann, just want to say to be careful even when using the pieces that survived heat shock! NileRed had to replace all of his beakers a while ago due to heat shock creating invisible stresses that led to them spontaneously breaking even weeks later.
That wasn't heat shock, it was a possible chemical change due to high temperature plasma in the microwave. He had to break everything because he didn't keep track of which ones were compromised.
@@MordecaiV Ah, you're right! I've rewatched the video. I was just worried about Ann using them for normal cooking and getting injured
@@caitlin4598 thanks for your care @caitlin 😀
This was on my mind too! So glad you were here and Ann noticed it!
I was also thinking this, or how some of the older pieces might have originally been able to withstand thermal shock but after years of abuse (people cutting pies out of pie plates, scraping with forks and utensils), it creates weak spots that can't handle as much stress and they fail. I've gone through this over the years with canning jars sometimes, eventually some just give out from repeated stress over time and break in the canner, leaving you with a sad pot full of watered-down food.
I love how you explain the issue without delving into clickbait exagerations and meaningless cliffhangers as other youtubers feel compelled to do.
You could easily have names this video "this is how pyrex is lying to you" or "how a dish can kill" but you keep it professional.
I feel like I am going to be more aware of products I use and their instructions and regulations (or lack thereof) in the future, as this is clearly not simply a "brand" issue but a systemic market one.
THANK YOU for being safe with glass! I'm a glass artist, I have worked with several types of glass when melty hot: boro (COE 33), "regular" soda lime (COE 90 or 96) and "soft" European glass (COE 104) NO glass is *safe* when temperature shocked.
And no glass is safe when it's got a scratch.
She doesn't do clickbait.
THIS!
In Finland the PYREX is made in France and it's definitely borosilicate glass. Funnily enough IKEA still makes borosilicate cooking ware and sells it also in the US. The US IKEA site actually specifically says that the Följsam oven tray is made from borosilicate glass.
The IKEA borosilicate glass ware often lacks handles so be careful
I never thought I'd be able to stay interested in a 18 min video about glass dishes. And yet. As always, you manage to make your videos fun, entertaining and educative. Thank youuu~
You might have ADHD.
As a glass blower who has been lucky enough to study at the Corning Museum of Glass, and visit the Steuben factory there before it closed...this is amazing! And there is so much more amazing stuff about the chemistry of glass and how it heats and cools that it would be great to share. I'll try and write it more consistently, but basically: the slower the temperature changes the better. Stress is going to develop at points that have been subjected to more repeated changes in heat and cooling (my guess would be the metal racks of your oven over time would make those spots on the pyrex potentially more vulnerable). Glassblowing nerds love to go into detail on this, and there are a lot of books (many of htem available in Corning at the Rakow research library!) about the science. Most important to any glass making is annealing to ensure the crystalline structure of the glass forms properly. If glass is heated and cooled too quickly, the molecules start to move around...and if you make them solid too quickly, the structure it forms isn't as strong and stable as if it has lots of time to slowly move back into it's structure (non-scientist here trying to explain it, so I'm sure I'm off a little). I love your channel and this made my little glass nerd heart explode like new pyrex!
So interesting! Thanks for sharing
One of the best museums I have visited. So much cool stuff and information
"Explode like new pyrex" 😂😂 a funny nerd too!! ❤
Either way, definitely let a frozen-in-Pyrex meal thaw completely before putting it into the pre-warmed oven (I assume).
I'm wondering as well if some people are premaking these casseroles, refrigerating them, and putting them into the oven to heat when they are ready to eat
I had a Pyrex bowl explode while I was reaching for it to put some leftovers away. I had some small ones stacked, with paper in between to keep them from scratching. I had just washed my hands, so my hand was still a bit damp. All I did was touch the edge of the bowl to get it out from underneath a smaller one, and it exploded. Good thing the bowls it was nestled in kept it from shattering too far and wide. Ever since then I have been paranoid of the new bowls and keeping and eye out at thrift stores for the classic Pyrex. And, I agree that IKEA bakeware is great.
The amount of expensive dishes you destroyed just to determine how to tell them apart is impressive and it is good you've got the sponsorship for this one. The information is really important and interesting and I am gonna check my own pyrex-like glassware this way.
Likely some (or most) of the dishes were bought second-hand. Charity shops often have Pyrex available cheaply.
Except... that it was not necessary to destroy any of them. Like... why do all that if there was a perfectly safe way to determine the glass type but submerging in oil instead of exploding them?
@@toxicginger9936 because she is debunking the whole idea of telling them apart with different methods, and because is fun
@@toxicginger9936 because she didn't know about submerging in Oil working or not until she compared the results of it with the results of breaking test.
@@toxicginger9936I'm going to add on that it shows how danger it is when it explodes. Since most of us are "Children of the Screens" the simple method probably isn't enough to make people take it seriously.
If pyromaniacs are people who have an intense urge to start fires, then is Ann a Pyrexmaniac - a person who has an intense urge to break Pyrex glassware?
Jokes aside, another incredibly informative and educational video, Ann. Thank you for going out of your way to buy all the Pyrex glassware and even sacrificing your favourite pie dish for us to test out the theories out there. ❤
😂
Yes, just yes 😂
People don't realize how dangerous shattering glass can be. Lost the very tip of one of my fingers to a bowl basically exploding in my hands.
Oh, so that explains why the Pyrex I bought in Canada exploded in million pieces whereas I never had something like that happening with the ones I've used all my life in France. We were so shocked with my flatmate, because we didn't do anything different from what we used to do back home.
On a funny note, I've just discovered thanks to your video that my white and flowery dishes from the 1970's are also Pyrex. I always assumed they made clear dishes.
Corningware
the fact that you risked and destroyed your own cookware to test the theories and help keep others safe should not be understated
i salute you o7
At least she can write off all her old cookware as a business expense for this video, though.
@@CallieMasters5000 Still cost her money - and if its old cookware, I doubt she actually has any invoices/receipts for a tax write off
It's the best stuff that's left though so that's a win.
@BlackSlimShady I don't know anything about tax law in Australia, but in the U.S., what she can write off as a business expense is any new glassware she bought to make the video *_AND_* any new glassware she bought to *_replace_* the old glassware she destroyed.
Went to Coles today and saw that all the Pyrex is now labelled Borosilicate, and includes labels saying it has “220° thermal shock” (not sure what that means exactly but planning to look it up). Looks like you’ve managed to make a difference!
I also notice some Wiltshire (Coles’ home brand) labelled borosilicate, so I guess it’s become “A Thing”?
(Aka., Pyrex figured out that, if they provide the option, people might feel inclined to replace all their cookware, thus making them a huge profit. But, whatever, we have Pyrex classic back now!)
So I'm dropping in six months late, but for those wondering borosilicate glass has a temp difference max of 220 degrees Celsius (425F). Meaning it's supposed to be able to go from, say a freezer set at -20C to an oven preheated to 200C and not shatter. Important to note however, borosilicate glass has a _max_ temp rating of 232C (450F) at which even it will shatter.
OXO also has Borosilicate Glass kitchenware. It costs alot more than the soda lime Glass, but its worth it. Look for borosilicate when you buy any glass, the manufacturers label it on the package.
@@CL_G Yeah, I've been keeping an eye out. Also, since I have both kinds in my kitchen, Some of them are only marked borosilicate on the label (which obviously gets removed), so I've designated a section of cupboard/dishwasher for the new stuff so I don't get it mixed up. I tried a few ways marking them, but nothing survived the dishwasher.
What's interesting is, I was following this story before this video was posted, and nothing I could find was labelled as either borosilicate OR soda lime. But, shortly after this video was published, I started noticing that some are now marked as borosilicate.
Interestingly, I still don't see many marked as soda lime, so I suppose we assume it's soda lime unless marked otherwise?
@siennaross6704 Yes, unless it's marked. I have found borosilicate glass at some 99 cents stores for around $6, where I live. It's half the cost of the name brands, but I notice that they don't give a max temp oven rating. I normally cook things at 350 degrees, but the last 'borosilicate glass' I put it at that temp began to warp. So now I'm skeptical of buying those and will stick with the name brand unless the temp is advertised on the package.
having used pyrex cookware since the 1970s (in the USA), i'm surprised this is news to anyone. Even back then, you knew not to put a hot dish on a cold surface or it could break. Granted, I don't remember it exploding.. just breaking/ cracking into a few large pieces.
thanks for (safely) showing the dangers of thermal shock.. and the even cooler use of index of refraction to identify the materials!
Same here.
The original Sunderland (UK) made pyrex could take it, They closed the factory.
Same, I was always taught to be cautious of thermal shock regardless of the brand name on the dish. (Though I thought the hot pads were more to protect the counter, since heat will mar some countertop surfaces. I suppose it protects in both directions.)
@@m2pt5 That's what the original one was for, The decided to cut corners on the product and now it is biting them on the bum.
The same company that makes Pyrex in the US also makes glass pots for use on the stovetop under the Visions brand. I'm pretty sure they used to make small pans as well. My mom used to have a set. I was weary of using it at first, worried that it would shatter. It could leave someone who isn't paying attention to think other glass cookware is also as resilient.
I experienced a glass baking dish shattering about 20 years ago. When my daughter moved into her first apartment a couple of years ago, I did some reading on the internet and bought her a borosilicate baking dish. It's worth the slightly higher price.
I use both for different purposes! Old Pyrex has been great for freezing things that I’ll want to reheat in the glass dish, like soup or chicken pot pie. New Pyrex is supposedly more resistant to breaking accidentally, like if you drop it on the floor, so I use that as my regular cookware. Though to be fair, I’ve never broken anything Pyrex, on accident or due to temp changes, so I don’t know how break resistant either is. But the newer glass is cheaper so I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt.
I came here for the science based on the title -- didn't know it was a cooking channel, I just need to call out that was one of the best researched and explained science subjects I've seen on RUclips -- Presentation style was amazing, you should change career and become a science influencer.
I appreciate all of the "don't try this at home" warnings.
I also appreciate you testing this for us so we can see the results without the danger.
Also.... WEEEEEE EXPLOSIONS!!!!
I’m sure Karens everywhere appreciate this.
(sarcasm)
Yes! "Don't try this at home," plus showing how the explosions look at normal speed, makes this a much safer video to watch and understand
The level you go to, to help people understand things so clearly and your willingness to test it and try things out never stops to amaze me. You really are a treasure! Thank you Ann!
I was absolutely sure the lower-case pyrex was the safe one!!!!
Thank you so much for this, we've already had one explode on our oven (during Christmas too... That was a bummer...) So I thought I'd researched and found the answer, but now you're telling me I got it wrong!!! That's a scary thought D:
Live your videos, always!!!
I've worked with a lot of glass doing historical archaeology. The yellow tends to be from selenium-rich sands. Lots of different colors are caused by the mineral makeup, like cobalt causing that signature blue color. It's fascinating.
When we get to the vegetable oil test, I wonder if the thickness of the glass has anything to do with the visibility along the "edges". After all, the only time you perceive color when looking at most glass is when there's a significant thickness in your direct view, such as looking down on the rim of a bowl or horizontally along the edges.
This plus the colour in there due to the mineral make up. Its just the borosilicate bit which has that refractive index thing, not the inclusions, so the cobalt inclusions won't go see through suddenly in oil. And obviously there will be more of them where the glass is thicker. If you could somehow create an entirely pure borosilicate glass (likely impossible, but still) then even the thicker bits should vanish or mostly so. Based on physics (roughly lol).
I'm now wishing I could remember in more detail my study on Roman glass whilst at university because I can't remember what kind of glass theirs was nor if we actually covered the specific make up much. Finding a tiny shard of Roman glass on a dig was pretty cool for me after I'd spent so long agonising over that particular essay. It didn't quite beat the person next to me finding the copper penis, but they didn't spot the shard sparkling so... It was the only find of glass on the site at that point so still felt it was pretty cool. And we all knew the mosaic was going to be there in pieces based on previous years excavations.
The thickness of the glass shouldn't be a factor in it's (in) visibility in the oil. Basically, when you see the glass, it's because the light passing through it is angled slightly differently from what it was in the pure oil. This angle change happens at the point where the light goes from oil to glass, so it doesn't matter how thick the glass is after that. For the other glass, the index of refraction is the same as the oil's and so the angle of the light path doesn't change at all in the transition between the two substances- it's as if nothing is there to deflect it.
@@Turquise8 ONLY if the glass has no other inclusions-- like chemicals that color it a pleasant shade of blue or green, because yellow was perceived to be be "dirty" in bakeware, which is why canning jars -- which are all boro-- tend to use colorants to alter the glass color. As a glass artist I assure you boro glass can be opaque, after it's what lots of decorative glass beads are made out of....
@@mwater_moon2865 Thank you, this is an important nuance! I should have specified that thickness does not make a difference for pure glass, so it's the presence of other materials, not the thickness that's responsible for any visibility in the oil. I would be curious if different colors of glass appear differently in the oil, i.e. they play a role in scattering the light differently because of their intrinsic color
@@Turquise8 hmm, interesting idea, I may test with my soda lime glass which has a refractive index closer to water, (thus why glass in swimming pools is so dangerous) and being clear would interfere with a colorimeter less. Though I already know that SOME coatings/colorings on glass depend on reflected light, look up "dicro glass" for a fun example :D
I think they should rebrand with a symbol in their logos, with Borosilicate, maybe a flame symbol or oven, something that symbolises it can withstand heat, and sodalime, maybe a liquid symbol, something thats good for measuring or keeping cool foods in. Something as simple as that will show consumers instantly which glass is which while keeping their customers satisfied and buying more cookware, kitchenware and bakeware for the appropriate setting.
I have an older Pyrex, don’t know how old, but it’s never shattered thankfully.
That was amazing how the pyrex dishes DISAPPEARED in the oil!!! Like, that was magic 😳
How many of us have a giant clear vat of oil?
@@madtabby66Vegetable oil's cheap. You just need to find a clear container.
Witchcraft it was! (but seriously, that was fascinating)
Can we all just respect Ann breaking her own cookware? Even some of her favourites.
Great video! It did made me realise I have some sodalime dishes, but as I understood it is still safe to use them. But I won't be reheating things in them after I have put them in the fridge. Next time, I will put the food on a plate and reheat that way instead.
Definitely be safe rather than sorry. I often reheat casseroles from the fridge, but I put them in the cold oven and they heat up slowly and evenly.
I use Pyrex from the fridge to the oven, just not *directly* from cold to hot. Like I made a friend some pot pies in glass pie dishes and cautioned them to never put the cold dish in the oven. Instead I told them to let it sit out on the counter for 30-60 minutes to come to room temperature, then bake.
It's a vintage ooooold pie plate and it works great for sharing meals with friends.
@@candice_ecidnacthat is what my grandmother told me to do in the 80s. I personally learned the no cold to hot with a cold beer glass in the 90s. But even in the 80s, this was a thing that I would like to say many housewives knew. My grandmother was smart, but not college educated. She knew not to do this, pyrex, PYREX, or not.
It's not only safe to use, it's safer to use than the old stuff. Just follow the instructions and you minimize your risk of ruining a good meal.
I have been using the same pyrex bakeware that my great grandmother used. Have never had a problem wwith anything shattering. I am now 56 years old and I inherited the pyrex bakeware when I was 22 years old
I’ve had 2 Pyrex dishes for over 10 years. I’ve never read the labels before but I have never attempted of cooling a dish on water. What a relief.
I’m really glad my family hasn’t made that mistake either.
Also I’ve never heard of people’s Pyrex just exploding when they used them. This is really important information and I’m glad I’ve watched this
I made the mistake of putting cold water in a hot Pyrex baking dish in the sink and learned my lesson about that years ago.
I once made the mistake of trusting the Pyrex name to be borosilicate glass, until I put a then brand new dish from the fridge into an oven preheated to 250C, because all of the other Pyrex stuff I have could handle that just fine. Imagine my surprise when it shattered, and my annoyance at a wasted dinner and an oven that suddenly needed a deep clean.
All of the Pyrex stuff I still have is either old or made in France.
Once I found out that Pyrex does not mean borosilicate glass I stopped paying for the brand name. If I have to put in the effort to make sure that I am buying what I think I'm buying, because the brand uses 2 different kinds of glass, I just stop buying from that brand. I'd rather spend my time looking for a different brand that does actually make everything from borosilicate glass. We have a saying here "trust comes on foot, but leaves on horseback", I don't trust Pyrex any more as a brand.
@@fermitupoupon1754 Just tonight I took my lamb roast that was seasoned overnight in the Pyrex dish in the refrigerator out and put it on the stovetop about an hour before I put it in the pre-heated oven, or I put it in the oven from the refrigerator and then let it and the oven pre-heat together.
@@lindalowe5592 that isn't an option for the dish I was making.
It needs to be in the fridge during prep because the layers shouldn't mix too much, it ruins the texture. Keeping it cold keeps things relatively firm.
The top most layer is also what is supposed to seal the moisture in, so that needs to bake pronto. That's why it goes from the fridge straight into a 250C oven.
Then once the top has established, after 5-10 minutes, the oven is turned down to 180 in order to bake through.
@@fermitupoupon1754 I was glad to find this youtube. I just be over careful with the Pyrex and assume they are just a bit better than thinner glass. If I have any cold to hot, use a metal baking dish. No questions there. 😝
I wondered why i hadnt heard of this in the UK; Pyrex has a different manufacturer over here ( Arc International Cookware) and is always made of borosilicate glass. Seems you want to avoid anything made in the USA as they went for the cheap option.
Sad how that makes total sense. Companies think US consumers are total idiots who will just buy anything.
@@gee8419 And unfortunately, they are correct.
Seems about right over here across the pond. Its pissing me off to have to replace everything anywhere from 1-5 years if I have bought it new in the last decade and not spent a fortune importing something made in another country.
Makes me want to find refurbished old appliances and go thrift store shopping when I need to replace kitchen items!!!
Its the old olive jar theory of manufacturing. Only these companies have removed all but a few olives and get mad when you complain its not the same anymore!!
The boroscilicate disappearing in vegetable oil is bonkers cool!
Thanks for the info Ann. 🙂I have seen a TON of both PYREX and pyrex in the thrift stores here over the past few months. Either some folks are cleaning out their mom's or grandmom's kitchen, or they are just as confused as the rest of us on this. I've had both versions and never had an issue with them breaking, even when I have dropped them. I think it is just a good rule of thumb to not take something directly from heat to cold. You can even ruin your pans doing this. Always let items cool down before putting in fridge or cleaning.
The issue for me is that I often quick cool my dish in a bowl of cold water when I want to refrigerate a dish quickly.
@@PotatoPirate123 Well just don't, it's not very difficult...and then your cookware will remain intact :)
@@ChimpyChamp I’ll just use a different one instead. Quick cooling is essential for me
It’s also important to be cautious going the other way, like bringing a dish a leftovers from the fridge or freezer directly to the oven. Check the directions on your bakeware (if possible) and give cold dishes time to warm up a bit while you preheat the oven.
@@PotatoPirate123Why? Literally just let it sit until it's cooled down. There's no reason not to, unless for some reason you're making dinner an hour before bed
Can’t praise your videos enough. Not enough people out there who approach topics in a truly unbiased fashion. A true scientist!
I love the fact that holzkern supports people all around the world 😊
I do an internal happy dance when I see you have a new video. Fabulous content, as always.
Thanks for the video Ann, but kinda painful it uploaded at 5:42 EST
SAMEEE :D
@@officalcassiopeia lol same its like 3am here but I'm usually hopelessly awake at 3am so it works out 😳
When I was looking for a specific recipe online last year, one of the lowest reviews showed their square pyrex dish shattered inside the oven. That time, I was making your lemon bars recipe and didn't have a metalic/nonstick square pan and had small-lettered pyrexes more so that's what I used. When I was already on the lemon curd part, I waited for the glass dish and the biscuit base to cool before pouring it on top then preheated the oven again to resume baking.
The next time my mother and I are getting glass-based dishes, I'll make sure to check if it's the original PYREX. Thank you so much for this, Ann.
I grew up with my mother's Pyrex which I believe is 1980s era borosilicate glass. It's never had any issues.
When I was in university I got a pretty severe second degree burn from a temperature shock to a Pyrex dish that was in my flat share. It was exactly like the explosion of the easy hold cake tin in this, but it was full of hot liquid at the time. It wasn't submerged in cold water but it might have been onto a damp counter.
I wish I had known that they changed the product to be less durable, and I could have avoided a nasty burn. Your videos are incredibly enlightening -- I think most people like to feel they're too sensible to injure themselves easily in the kitchen but it's only through watching your video that I realised this is likely what happened to me.
Be careful. While borosilicate glass is more resistant to thermal shock, it’s a LOT more brittle when it comes to physical shocks. Oxo sells some expensive borosilicate storage containers and they’re nice, but I’ve already lost two of them to physical damage. One of them I dropped onto a tile countertop and it EXPLODED into a rain of sharp glass shards all over my kitchen. I still occasionally sweep up shards from that three years later.
I feel like tempered glass is probably safer for everyday use if you exercise caution to avoid heat shock.
Exactly, most people here seem to have jumped on the bandwagon, but don't really comprehend what they are talking about. For the average person, sodalime is FAR superior. Borosilicate simply allows you to build up bad habits, until you face the same end result, albeit, with a slightly worse outcome, as borosilicate is a lot more dangerous when it breaks.
I’ve dropped borosilicate Pyrex and had it shatter, and I think that was the fate of my parents’ Pyrex saucepans
I know they're attractive and hard-wearing but I've always thought that tile and granite counter tops were somewhat suboptimal and unforgiving as kitchen surfaces.
@@chaos.corner Stainless steel and solid-surface counter tops if you use a lot of glassware and ceramics, stones if you mainly use metal cookware.
My new flat comes with a granite kitchen counter top. A thick honeycomb type silicone trivet saves my delicate borosilicate coffee pots and cups on countless occasions.
It sounds like it wasn't properly annealed to relieve the stress in the glass. I've dropped borosilicate glass from one of my favorite glass makers on concrete with no breakage.
I had a pyrex measuring cup explode inside a cabinet during the night, it was probably still warm from coming out of the dishwasher then insulated in the cupboard. We heard the explosion and searched the house, but didn’t find it until the next day. I’m so glad nobody was hurt! It was crazy!
Not Anne popping her favorite casserole dishes for our knowledge. Thank you❤
I looked into this a while back, and came to basically the same conclusions. And, yeah, I'm viewing this from a consumer safety perspective. When Pyrex is saying "if you follow the directions, it doesn't explode", that's all well and good, but the directions include stuff like not taking your Pyrex baking dish from the oven and putting it on a cold surface. (Like, say, the top of the stove, which is the most obvious place to put a dish that you just removed from the oven.) And while I can't speak for anyone else, my instincts mean I literally can't follow that direction. When I take a dish out of the oven, it will end up on top of the stove, because that's where I put dishes that I've just removed from the oven. So, I stopped using Pyrex in the oven.
I wish I could like your videos multiple times because you’re always providing information everyone needs to hear! I bought pyrex years ago and absolutely loved them, but I can say I used them without fear because I fully trusted what they advertised. I had no clue they weren’t as durable as I thought. I luckily never broke any but it still blows my mind that I just thought they changed the logo and not that it was less durable and shatter resistant. Love so much Ann for all you do!
You are misunderstanding the video. Newer pyrex (sodalime) IS more durable and resistant. Much moreso than old borosilicate. It's just slightly less thermal shock resistant. It is still resistant to thermal shock, just not quite as much. If you break the new stuff, you could still easy have done so with the old stuff, as you are supposed to mitigate thermal shock with both types of glass. At least with new sodalime, it's hard to break by dropping or banging, and if it does break, is less likely to injure you.
@@john_titor1 I banged my boroscillicate ones often and only got one chip off and that's it, thermal resistance in cookware is better
@@warpbeast69 I mean, statistics, the far more objective form of evidence than anecdote, says otherwise.
@@john_titor1 I'd still take boroscillicate any day of the week, they're not at risk of shattering instantly with a few bangs over years of use.
A forgetful mistake of thermal shock though and it's all gone with possibly a hot content ruining my oven/plate/wood kitchen boards ?
Fuck that.
@@john_titor1t's not slightly less resistant to thermal shock, it's quite significant. As someone who does scientific lampworking (a kind of 'glassblowing' with mostly borosilicate), I can put a piece of borosilicate tubing directly infront of a strong oxy-propane (way hotter than just propane and air) flame directly from room temperature to start melting/forming and it has *never* broken (assuming there isn't any stress from previous shaping without annealing). Soda glass will explode immediately every time.
A normal propane blowtorch (aka using air instead of pure oxygen w/ the gas) isn't even hot enough to melt borosilicate, boro will still survive being put directly in the _oxy-propane_ torch.
I got a Bovado Borosilicate Glass cooking dish and I'm highly satisfied! 😎👍
Using your actual Pyrex dishes you like to see if the explode or not is crazy. Thank you for your sacrifice in this amazing video Ann ❤
I like to draw crytal / clear objects and I must say the vegetable oil test you do really help me understand more about glass texture. your video amazing as always .
This video just proved me right! I haven’t used ANY Pyrex dishes at all for over 15 years now because I’ve had so many break on me after taking it out of the oven! I now have only been using the ceramic Corning ware dishes since and have never had it happen since! I don’t trust any glass dishes in the oven anymore!
I’m Dutch and I’ve seen Pyrex in stores here, so out of curiosity I checked online to see if they shared what glass it’s made of. They didn’t *say* what glass it was but I *did* see that they advertise themselves as being a French brand in the Netherlands, so that answers that I guess. 😂
Yeah, I think the French version is the only one we get in Europe, I've never seen the American stuff sold in the UK
But is it? They advertise as French, but it’s made around the world.
@@madtabby66 The brand Pyrex is American, but as mentioned in the video, at some point a French company paid to be able to use the brand name as well. That's why I found it mildly funny that the Pyrex I found in stores advertises as being French and not American.
I dare say that's a bad change. I wasn't aware Pyrex was no longer borosilicate glass. A friend of mine posted how her Pyrex dish exploded a few months back. I suppose this explains it.
But this change was like 30 years ago...
@@ChronoZero Keep in mind that these dishes are often passed down through generations, so the change filters into people's awareness more slowly than, say, the change to New Coke. I still have some of my grandmother's Pyrex dishes.
Overall, it is a GOOD change. They should have been more transparent about it however. But sodalime glass is tempered, therefore it is stronger and more durable, not to mention safer. For the vast majority of people, this is a better product, and it will last longer and reduce the amount and severity of glassware related injuries.
Thank you so much for this!! I didn’t understand why my Pyrex would break but my mom’s Pyrex are still perfect after 50 years!
I remember, as a kid growing up in Australia, my mum brought home a full set of Pyrex plates big and small, bowls, mugs, tea cups and saucers etc.
I distinctly remember my parents “discussing” her purchase and hearing her say that she had purchased it because it was “unbreakable”.
After hearing that conversation, I was absolutely fascinated with these new items.
Not long after, my school friend’s family also got a set of white and blue corningwear and that was also meant to be unbreakable - it must have really been quite a trend in the late 70s early 80s 🤣
I distinctly remember that I really wanted to test it out.
I really wanted to see if it was unbreakable by dropping a bowl onto the outside laundry floor - it was a painted (possibly polished) concrete floor.
I remember being really aware of this type of crockery and bakeware. I’d always notice it in other people’s houses.
I never did test it out, but it was waaaaay to many years before I properly understood that it wasn’t actually unbreakable 😂😂
...an embarrassingly long time to be honest.
Ha ha - but as a little kid, hearing those words, that something was unbreakable, I
100% believed that it could not be broken.
I was fascinated and a little afraid all at the same time.
It was like some real life magic existed and it was in MY house. Just downstairs in the kitchen cupboard.
🙂🐿🌈❤️
Hahaaaa, I think concrete probably would have taken a plate out!
But I have dropped several Corningware / Corelle plates and bowls onto lino and had them survive no worries, which is nice
@@Raida7 🤣🤣❤️
@@Raida7corelle IS nearly unbreakable. We have some plates 25+ years. The whole set? No. But SOME.
I sure hope some of the dishes you liked which were destroyed in the tests are still available to buy! Thanks for your dedication to your craft Ann. You are truly an inspiration.
I think she destroyed them to prevent them going bust on her during baking. Why settle for an rng bowb whet there's safer alternatives
@@andalinta uh.. nope. Sodalime isn't a random bomb.. it's actually stronger and safer overall, and considering she understands the physics involved, she knows how to avoid breaking the glass, by minimizing thermal shock, which you should be doing for any glass, borosilicate included.
Thanks!
I feel so bad that you had to break your glassware! And especially your favourite pie dish!!!!
Thank you so much for doing this so we can all be safe and take appropriate precautions!
Really really really appreciate all your effort (and broken glass) that went into keeping us safe
Yes! Although I think it speaks a bit to her option… for the video and viewers, but maybe a tiny bit of “well not so sure I want to take the risk with this dish anyways…” in there as well! Pure speculation though.
I did some digging into this a few months ago after I had one explode.
My understanding (and I could be wrong) is that PYREX & pyrex are two different brands. PYREX (originally owned by Corning) is the original company and used borosilicate glass, while pyrex came out later and used soda-lime glass. So, for a while, you could tell the difference by looking for PYREX vs pyrex.
Then PYREX changed the glass they used to soda-lime (80's? 90's?) to save money. So now, PYREX & pyrex are mostly the same. Except in France, where I think PRYEX is licenced by another company and is still borosilicate glass.
I'm also going to stress because the video only touched on it briefly. DO NOT EVER put your hot glassware on a cool surface. Put it on a couple of potholders or a folded kitchen towel. I learned this the hard way with a $70 roast.
Yes !!
Not quite right! Ann explains this herself at 7:30 in this very video. The lowercase pyrex and uppercase PYREX aren't 'two different brands', they are just a modern rebrand that came about after the transition to soda lime started.
So while it doesn't guarantee what it's made of, it's a good starting place:
- If the logo is lowercase, it is newer and almost certainly uses the soda lime.
- But if the logo is uppercase, it COULD be old and the good borosilicate, but it doesn't guarantee it!! (It could easily be soda lime)
@@cipherhexhis doesn't hold true everywhere. In Europe all pyrex has the uppercase in an oval logo, even the version not made in France. The French version has french flags on the packaging, but even the non french version uses the 'old' logo.
It's extremely confusing and dangerous
Edit - apparently in Europe all pyrex is Boro, the soda glass plant shut down decades ago and PYREX is only made in France. US imported pyrex may exist around, and may be soda glass. Simply only buy the version with the french flags on.
@@living2day617 Doesn't matter anymore. They both use soda glass now, unless you buy it in France.
I don't get why people are putting ANY glass on cold (stone!) counters when as Ann showed, even boro will shatter from heat shock. My Granma never used soda lime a day in her life and if I even though of setting hot glass on a wooden counter top I'm pretty sure my hearing would have been permanently damaged from the scream of "NO!!!"...
I had a Pyrex dish explode on the table. It was on a pot holder, and had been out of the over quite a while. I’m just glad none of us were hurt because glass went all over the kitchen.
I remember when I was around 6 my mother was making jelly and poured boiling water in a glass dish that wasn't a pyrex dish and I will never forget how it just exploded everywhere!
Luckily none of us were hurt but it left a very strong impression on me and I've been very careful with glass cookware since.
Had a similar experience in my teens (1970s). My mother was making jams and jellies. For some reason I've never understood, she put a large glass (Pyrex, I think) bowl on the cooktop. This was a gas cooktop, by the way. The bowl shattered. One piece cut my foot. Needless to say, neither of us ever repeated that mistake.
@@bonniechance2357 You can actually put some glassware directly on the gas. Glass ceramics, but not borosilicate or soda lime, can actually do that successfully (with care, there are some restrictions). Glass ceramic is also used for induction cooktops. You can be frying food at more than 250C on one heater, and place a bag of frozen peas next to it, and the glass top will laugh at you.
That happened to my best friend 20 years ago when she made macaroni in a glass pot on an induction stove.
@@bonniechance2357 the glass door on my mother's oven shattered recently. I know another person who had glass shower panels in her bathroom just suddenly shatter too. I wonder is the quality not as good anymore in the glass used in these things.
I was helping a friend make some jam once and she was using a glass thermometer to monitor the temperature. She then asked me if it was safe to wash the thermometer immediately, then did it anyway before I said "no let it cool down before you put it under water" and, well, she learnt it was not safe.
was struggling to fall asleep before work and decided to check youtube one more time and i'm so grateful i did!! normally i watch first thing in the morning but it's so exciting to be here immediately'
So glad that you're early
@@HowToCookThat Ann it's such an honour to have you respond !! thank you for this informative and entertaining video!!
This is the most informative video I've seen on the subject. It was straight to the point in recapping and spent no time delving into the additional details involving the subject. Thank you.
The Pyrex situation is fascinating, though a good way to avoid shattering bakeware is to not use it at all. Metal bakeware is lighter, less expensive, flexible without shattering, browns effectively, easier to clean, and they're not as curvy so the relative volume capacity of the bakeware is higher
Eh, some recipes require you to have light or barely used bakewear, other recipes want you to have dark or heavily used bakewear, and that's without going into the potential reactiveness of certain recipes. It also retains heat for longer, for better or for worse. Both metal and glass bakeware have their place and uses.
You don't want everything to brown, and I strongly disagree with the "easier to clean", but yes metal bakeware is one of the tools I use in my kitchen.
Glassware makes heat travel slower to whatever's being cooked in it, so it has certain appropriate usages, where one could be beneficial over metal bakeware. If I'm not mistaken, Ann has already done a video on this topic.
If glassware didn't have it's advantages, we'd never have lowered usage of enameled metal
@@kenshinbattousai374 Well, its much cheaper to make and is more durable... until it isnt. Glassware has uses but I think that metal and ceramic is just better.
I'd never heard of this before - thank you for your incredible efforts in these experiments. Wow!
This is a fascinating comparison of dishes! while some chemistry classes would specify borosilicate glasses for procedures, plenty of other classes simply said pyrex and definitely meant the sturdier line. Thanks for exploring and explaining the material science here! It's amazing how much this kind of "niche" science affects so many fields and everyday usage.
pyrex labware is owned and produced by a different company and is always borosilicate glass.
You’re so soothing that I used to use your baking videos to fall asleep, but your recent content has been so fascinating that it’s definitely viewing for when I’m awake.
this is so thorough, and really respects the viewer's intelligence. I'm annoyed that now, I wouldn't bother with the soda lime - borosilicate or nothing. I don't have room for baking dish duplicates that have different temperature treatment.
Also, mad respect for your pie dish's sacrifice
Just never use it if it's scratched!! That's how glass artists cut glass, we scratch it along the line we want it to break on (then hope and pray it will follow JUST that line while we flex it)
And NEVER forget that boro is still prone to temperature shock, just like Ann's break at 12:40, and the shards WAY more dangerous to clean up if it does break. (put the large pieces in a thick paper bag the use a damp, twice-folded paper towel to wipe up shards up to anything within line of sight, the shards are more like slivers and can fly over 20 feet... and NEVER touch the shards with your bare hands, boro scalpels are still sometimes used for surgery because they're sharper than metal can get and won't dull over a long surgery)
Really? That's what you took from this? After she explained how much more fragile the borosilicate is and how dangerous the breaks are? Maybe you're the world's most careful cook, but I can't tell you how many times I've bumped my soda-lime dishes on the oven when taking them out. Also, I throw the small dishes in my lunch bag and backpack all the time and I can tell you they can take a LOT of abuse. The point is, the limitations of each of these materials are different. You should use them where they make the most sense. If you want to premake a lasagna and keep it in the fridge overnight before baking - probably go with borosilicate. If you want to teach your small children to bake, probably go with the soda-lime for safety.
@@EmilyFuger Yeah, that was my takeaway, don't have kids and haven't experienced breaks except when straight up dropping things. I also already have much bigger metal trays anyway. so yeah, my point stands, I don't want to double up on trays for different qualities
That’s insane, I thought Pyrex products were all made the same way. Thank you so much Ann, this is one of the most informative video I’ve seen in months ❤
In about 1993-ish, I had the amber-colored Pyrex stovetop cookware set. I was new to glass cookware and didn't realize that you couldn't go from stovetop to cold water, like you could metal. Yeah, broke my favorite saucepan. My husband at the time said, "Yeah, you can do that with glass!" I was young and didn't know. LOL! Lesson learned!
You really shouldn't do that with metal either; you can warp it.
I’ve got the full set (they were my grandmothers) I believe you’re referring to the Corningware Visions line. They’re by far my favorite but I did have one knockoff covered baking dish an idiot family member decided to use on the stove top. It obviously shattered .
My amber cookware did the same thing but it shattered just taking it out of the oven and letting it cool atop the stove. I was so pissed off that when the second one crackled- i threw them all away.
I mean...that's just basic common sense.
One of my wedding presents in 1988 was a set of that amber-colored cookware. It was Corning Visions, and I should've just returned it to Costco or wherever (probably Price Club that long ago). The usage instructions were super picky, and I already had stainless steel cookware that didn't need to be babied. Who needs a saucepan that can't be used with a metal potato masher and isn't even non-stick? Or that will shatter if I use room temperature liquid to deglaze the brown on the bottom?
French viewer here! I was unaware of the difference between borosilicate and soda-lime pyrex, the former we mostly own here, at the point that the Wikipedia page for Pyrex in french language doesn't even mention soda-lime products. I'll be even more cautious in the future when buying these products thanks to your video.
As of the state of the manufacturer, it is indeed hit pretty hard by inflation rates, mainly the rise in energy prices, and a slight drop in sales. It is not yet filing for bankruptcy but mainly reducing production and projecting a partial unemployment period for its workforce in the course of the year.
Pyrex in europe is generally the better stuff, for now at least.
@@Person01234 But it's not better. They just have different use cases. In fact, the "US" kind, tempered sodalime, is actually arguably better for the average consumer. It is stronger, and more resilient to physical trauma, and when it does break, it breaks in a much safer manner than borosilicate. Seeing as most accidents involving glassware are from physical damage, making it physically more durable is better than more thermal shock tolerant, especially since you should minimize thermal shock with any glassware anywyas.
@@john_titor1 Did you watch the video because that's not really the results she got. And this also ignores that people expect it to be heat resistant, that is the point of the pyrex branding. If people wanted tougher glass, they could buy one with an association for toughness. European pyrex is the "better stuff" for heat resistance and misleading consumers because you think you know what's better for them than they do is garbage.
@@Person01234 Did YOU watch the video? because that is exactly what she stated in the video... No glass is thermal shock proof. Should they have been clearer about the change to sodalime? Probably. But it was also over 30 years ago, i'm not really sure what they did or didn't do to make people aware of the changes. Either way, all glass should be treated carefully. You should always minimize thermal shock. If you follow those basic precautions, you'd not have any issues. Borosilicate breaks from thermal shock too, it's not magic.
As for better or worse, again, it's about purpose. And statistically, you have a better time arguing in favor of the more durable sodalime glass, as physical shocks account for the vast majority of glassware accidents. Not to mention that it is much safer in the event of a break as well.
@@john_titor1 I did watch the video and I know what she stated. But because I watched the video I also saw what her tests showed. Not rocket science. You might want to actually watch the video then come back and pretend like there's not a significant functional difference between how the two handle thermal shock.
People have had these things exploding somewhat regularly from normal use. They aren't taking them from a lava bath and throwing them into a moon of jupiter. People do not have borosilicate pyrex exploding on them left and right.
Also stop liking your own comments.
I'm sorry you had to sacrifice your favorite pie dish for science. Genuinely love the debunking videos, hope it's giving great traction for your channel!
I clearly remember the first time I had a pyrex dish break on me (Thanksgiving 2010) and how shocked I was when it happened. It's comforting to understand the reason now, at least!
I always buy Pyrex because I trusted the brand. A few years ago, a baking dish exploded in my over and my first thought was--"I must have accidently bought a different brand, thinking it was Pyrex". Now I'm wondering if it was, in fact, Pyrex. From now on I'm only buying the Made in France label.
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cookware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means. The only benefit borosilicate has for you is that it lets you build bad habits, but it will break all the same, eventually, but more dangerously than the tempered sodalime.
So really a case of "They don't make them like they used to".
I am glad that i got some kitchen-ware when a nearby school closed. Nice and simple metal tool - not just thin stamped metal but with a nice heft to them..... and some of them have manufacturing-dates on them showing they pre-date WW2.
Funny thing when you have not thrown away anything that is not younger than your self.
Due to my years of lab work, thick borosilicate glass is my preference for cookware. USA-made Pyrex is great for refrigerating leftovers in once they've cooled down a bit (thick glass = no odor retention & resistance to breaking), but not for reheating them straight from the fridge! Some of the borosilicate glass kitchenware items one can buy are delicate & easily shattered by bumping, even if they endure heat changes well. I always just assume that if I'm buying it & it doesn't explicitly say borosilicate then it won't hold up to abrupt temperature changes. Your experiments are fascinating, but I don't think I'm going to be trying out my thrift store glassware purchases in a clear tub of vegetable oil... Thanks for another excellent presentation, Ann -- you got a glass splinter & destroyed your favourite fluted pie dish for us! Such dedication!
Correct. The best borosilicate is only able to handle about 250-300 degrees of rapid change. Soda lime is about 100. So both will have problems being placed directly into a 425F oven. If you are using any glassware in an oven do NOT pre-heat it. Put it in and bring it up to temperature. Adjust cooking times accordingly. :)
I just bought that “pretty pie dish” from a secondhand shop yesterday and got it because it was older and I assumed would be the real deal. I’m glad to see through your testing it likely is! Mine is labelled that it’s made by Corning in the USA.
"real deal". This doesn't make sense. None of this stuff is fake. Sodalime is just safer and more resilient overall, whereas borosilicate is slightly more resilient to thermal shock, leading people to pick up bad, dangerous habits.
@@john_titor1it does make sense..you knew what she meant, I knew and so does everyone else and YES fake is the correct word since someone else is MAKING it different than the original.
@@john_titor1 sorry I didn’t feel like typing out “borosilicate” first thing in the morning. Clearly I meant that I was happy it appears to have the characteristics I would associate with older Pyrex - like not exploding
@@cherrywilson6267 But it isn't fake. They aren't claiming it's something else, they label it properly. It's actually a better overall product too...
Thank goodness I still have my very old Pyrex dishes. I snap them up at charity shops. The old ones have nicer designs and the lids fit nicely too.
Wow, learned a lot about Pyrex today. I was always raised hearing that Pyrex was better and safer so I’ve always bought it. I have never seen those guidelines from the manufacturer and I definitely could have ended up with a glass explosion. Thank you for always looking out for our safety!
The thing is, neither is better than the other. They merely have different purposes. Borosilicate is more resilient to thermal shock, but will still break when the shock is too great. Sodalime glass is still quite resilient to thermal shock, not quite as much as borosilicate, but great enough to use perfectly fine with cook ware/ovens. The REAL benefit of sodalime glass is that it is tempered, meaning it is MUCH stronger, and more resistant to breaking conventionally, such as by being placed down too abruptly, or being knocked/banged on stove/counter tops or with utensils. And when it does break, it breaks safer, with less dangerous and less sharp shards than borosilicate. On average, this makes sodalime better for everyday cooking, as you are more likely to break or injure yourself with borosilicate by mechanical means.
@@john_titor1 I didn't mean to say that it's bad or worse than anything else. I just thought for whatever reason that Pyrex was supposed to hold up against thermal shock better than other glassware. So it was good to learn more about the different types of glass and what can happen. I would definitely rather have it break into less dangerous pieces, but now I feel a little better equipped to prevent it breaking in the first place!
@@john_titor1 Not sure if it's safer as a measuring cup though. If a borosilicate shattered in your hand as you poured hot water into it, it has a lot less energy and would tend to fall to the ground, whereas the tempered glass can react more violently sending the glass along with the hot water everywhere. In both instances you could still get shards of glass in your skin and be burned but one is probably more likely to cut you (on your hands, legs, and feet) and the other is more likely to get you burned (anywhere on your body). I'd probably take my chances holding onto sharp glass in my hand then have tempered glass and hot water fly into my face though.
@@Dean..... If you are measuring extremely hot liquids, i might agree. Which is why we prefer borosilicate in many beakers/lab equipment that might be used with extreme temps. Although i will state, that the idea of non tempered glass falling on my feet is not a preferable one. At least in labs, you are always wearing safety gear, shoes, etc, so the glass is less likely to injure you, which kinda negates some of the downside of the borosilicate, unlike at home, where you are often barefoot.
That's so weird! Going over all those rules, they're exactly the ones that my mother taught me about any glass or ceramic cooking dish, but I never knew why. Turns out my mom was just a stickler for rules, and also went out of her way to read them because I've never seen Pyrex state those either.
I love how systematically scientific you are in your analysis of everything. For example warning people that something may be an opinion when you can't back it up. Also the empirical testing you do.
I think one contributing factor in these types of accidents is the counters. Stone countertops have increased in popularity and the temperature shock of putting a hot dish directly on stone is much greater than laminate countertops.
I am baffled by the popularity of stone countertops, perhaps because I am clumsy and drop things a lot. However, wouldn't a 350F casserole melt or burn the laminate?
@@splendidcolors It may depend on the particular variety of laminate, but I have seen this done many times with no ill effects. It does go against the recommendations though, so perhaps it's still not a good idea.
Ann, I love the level of detail that you put into these types of videos. Thank you for continuing to make these sort of videos as they're hugely valuable for regular consumers :)
Thank you so much!
Now I know why my newer baking dish exploded when I went to deglaze the pan but the old on I inherited (after I had bought one myself) works fine. Deglazing a roasting pan right after removing the meat is something I learned from my grandmother to aid cleanup.
At least 50-60% of the glassware we used in the lab during my bsc/msc were pyrex branded. But that stuff is also really expensive compared to regular baking supplies