"CorningWare" ain't Corning Ware no more.

Mother is lucky.

Her Corning Ware is the real thing made in the USA from a space-age scientific miracle: Corning Pyroceram. Today's "CorningWare" is a stoneware imposter imported from overseas by World Kitchen who licenses the registered trademark "CorningWare" from Corning Incorporated.

At www.corningware.com, World Kitchen attempts to explain away the change:

The original CorningWare? bakeware which was first introduced in 1958, was made of a glass-ceramic material that could be used on the stove, in the oven and under the broiler. After World Kitchen acquired the brand in the late 1990’s, CorningWare products were switched to ceramic stoneware production. Introduced later that year was the French White collection, which has been an all-time best seller among brides-to-be.

The stoneware transition was made, in part, to ensure that the brand adapted to the evolving tastes of consumers who today put a premium on color and design. In addition, with the advent of the microwave, the thermal benefits of the original material diminished in importance for home cooks.

They conveniently overlook the differences, which are like the Jetsons and the Flintstones. Pyroceram is a pure white vitreous material with a glass-smooth finish. It is 100% impervious to food acids and staining. You can melt some butter in a Corning Ware Pyroceram casserole on the stove, stir in the ingredients for a cheese sauce, fold in some cooked elbow macaroni and then freeze the whole thing until you're ready to bake it, straight from the freezer. If the top isn't as brown as you like, you can put it under the broiler until it's just right.

"CorningWare" stoneware is no better than the cookware Target and Wal-Mart sell under their own labels. It has an off-white finish and a dull pebbled surface that can hold onto stains. It's also thicker, heavier and, according to many who've bought it, far more prone to failure over time, especially if you use it as freezer-to-oven-to-tableware. World Kitchen knows this, and that's why the warranty against thermal failure on "CorningWare" stoneware is a measly ONE YEAR, compared to the whopping TEN YEAR warranty on Pyroceram. If you use it on the stove or under the broiler, you will void the warranty and the dish may crack or shatter from heat stress.

Ironic, isn't it? Mom's Corning Ware propelled her 1960s kitchen into the Space Age while today's "CorningWare" stoneware sends your 21st Century kitchen back to the Stone Age.