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Because of the shattering dangers of the apparently inferior lime glass that Pyrex uses for manufacturing in the U.S. as exposed by Consumer Reports, I'd like to replace my Pyrex with borosilicate bakeware. Apparently Pyrex used to manufacture their bakeware with borosilicate until about 10-15 years ago in the U.S..

I thought I found a manufacturer (Marinex) that used borosilicate, and though they advertise it as such, based on this report, it turns out that the materials used by Marinex still may not be as safe as "true" borosilicate bakeware.

How can I purchase true (new) borosilicate bakeware from the United States? It doesn't have to be manufactured in the U.S., and I'm open to ordering it from foreign stores that export to the U.S.. Specifically, I'm looking for 13x9 and 11x7 rectangular, and 8x8 square baking dishes.

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Just a quick note in general: I'm not even sure Pyrex sold in Europe is still borosilicate. The name was sold a couple of years ago. "Pyrex" is possibly not oven-safe. Just make sure it's borosilicate. – Mien Mar 10 at 16:10
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Good luck finding any. Boron is poisonous which means there's a very high waste disposal cost, so borosilicate is generally only used for two niche markets now: lab equipment, and bongs. If you don't want to use metal bakeware then you might have better luck searching for some vintage Corningware or Glasbake/glassbake/flamex on eBay or in your local thrift stores - pretty much the same thermal characteristics as the old boro, just looks nicer. – Aaronut♦ Mar 10 at 16:40
@Aaronut I was looking for new bakeware, thanks. And according to the Consumer Reports article linked to in the question, there is still borosilicate cookware manufactured in Europe. I'm probably going to toss all my Pyrex and replace it with ceramic/porcelain cookware, which unfortunately is not transparent like glass, but at least I don't have to worry about the possibility of it spontaneously exploding in my face when performing basic cooking tasks. – Jeff Axelrod Mar 10 at 17:05
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@JeffAxelrod Arc International owns the license for Pyrex in Europe and apparently they are still making it there: amazon.co.uk/Pyrex-Borosilicate-Square-Roaster-21x21cm/dp/… it may be a matter of time before a US alternative shows up. In the mean time, if you make sure your glassware doesn't go through rapid temperature change, chances of the shatter is much less. – MandoMando Mar 10 at 17:14
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@JeffAxelrod : I can add to the stories -- tried making a yorkshire pudding in a brand new Pyrex dish, which I've done for years in an older one ... and it exploded from just heating it empty. (it's possible that something might've dripped above, I guess, and as it was its first use, it's possible that it had a defect) – Joe Mar 11 at 13:08
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2 Answers

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I believe the following companies advertise that they produce bakeware made out of borosilicate available in the US, :

Luminarc Arcuisine Elegance

I can't speak to the boron/boron plus/zero boron debate, but those are the two I would investigate.

I know that Bodum also advertises borosilicate products, but I'm not sure if they make bakeware.

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Are you sure that Luminarc makes glass bakeware? I only know them for producing plates and bowls made of glass which looks like ceramic, in fact their name slowly gets to be used as a generic name for this material around here. – rumtscho♦ Apr 25 at 9:06
Rumtscho, it's not their main business, but they do make ramekins and what we'd call a glass casserole dish, but they amusingly call a "furn, "which I can only imagine means sort of fun-urn, as in where the ashes of my burn casserole would be. ;) – Spencer Soloway Apr 25 at 13:33
nice find. By the way, the old Latin word "fornax" meaning "oven" has descendants in many languages, including the English "furnace". So I guess they were trying to create a name which is somehow related to "oven", in parallel to "Dutch oven", without using a word people already connect with a different meaning. But I agree that my analysis is pure speculation and yours is pure fun :) – rumtscho♦ Apr 25 at 13:43
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You can buy it on ebay for $25 and up.

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Could you please add details, especially how can you ensure that the glassware in question is indeed borosilicate as opposed to the common U.S. Pyrex bakeware? – rumtscho♦ Mar 19 at 16:05

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