• Dishwasher, microwave, freezer & oven safe.

• Free from any toxic substances, including lead and cadmium, polish pottery is safe for use with foods.

• Glazing helps resist chips and scratches.

• High quality stoneware does not dent or break easily.

Polish pottery is a superb unit for storing and serving your favorite foods. More than just a pretty serving piece, it keeps hot foods hot and cool foods cool.
Ceramic stoneware retains heat and cold for extended periods, longer than other kitchen ware. Fruit and other fresh foods remain fresher for extended periods when stored in pottery.

Favored by experienced cooks for its excellent heat distribution during cooking and baking, Polish pottery also helps food retain moisture.

TAKE CARE! While extremely utilitarian and durable Polish Pottery, like any stoneware, should not be taken directly from the cold and placed in the oven.
Allow to warm to room temperature before heating.
If proper precautions are not taken the pottery may crack.
This is true of any stoneware.

The following has been said of other stoneware pottery and may be a good guideline for using your Boleslawiec Pottery. You may safely use ceramics in the microwave for up to four minutes and in a conventional oven up to 350 degrees. Do not use with stovetop burners.

There are seven or eight ceramic factories in Boleslawiec, Poland. All of them strive to produce their best. The competition between them leads to high quality products from all of them. Pride of workmanship leads many of the factories to assign categories to their work.

The categories are called Gat 1 (category 1) and Gat 2 (category 2).

Two of the best known and largest factories, Artistic Ceramics and Zaklady, use color codes to denote the categories. Artistic Ceramics identifies their Gat 1 high quality pieces with a white sticker. Zaklady uses a blue sticker.

Gat 2 is considered second quality, but the term "seconds" is not interpreted as severely as it often is in the US.
Polish Gat.2 is often still of a higher quality than pottery found elsewhere. These items do not have structural flaws--items which do are destroyed--but are cosmetically imperfect. Perhaps a dot is slightly too large or is a smidge off center.
Gat 2 may have a small blue smear. Even those experienced with Polish pottery can have trouble detecting the flaw.

Zaklady identifies their Gat2 pieces with a green sticker.

People become confused about stickers. If there is no sticker, it doesn't automatically mean it's Gat 2. Not every piece receives a blue or green sticker. Boxed sets will often only have the sticker on one piece or the outer carton.

Don't be alarmed at the sight of a small unglazed spot or dent - most often a rim on the bottom of the plate will be unfinished. This has a useful purpose: it allows the moisture to escape during firing, which prevents the ceramics from exploding. It doesn't affect the quality category.