One of the most common questions I get regarding my cooking videos is about the mixing bowls I use. They are old Texas Ware bowls.
When I was growing up Granny had one. She used it for mixing cakes, biscuits, cornbread, slaw, and other things. It was always handy in her cabinet right by the stove.
After I was married Miss Cindy gave me her nesting set of three bowls. She said she never used them any more. I was thrilled.
While Granny only had the medium size bowl now I had a larger one and a sweet smaller one too!
Somewhere along the way Chatter dropped the middle one Miss Cindy gifted me and it broke. She insisted on replacing it even though I told her it wasn’t necessary. Since then I’ve been gifted other Texas Ware bowls and bowls that are similar but don’t have the Texas Ware brand. I love them all.
I recently saw an article about the bowls in Country Living magazine. According to it, the bowls were first made in the late 1940s by Dallas-based Plastics Manufacturing Company. The article noted they are highly collectable now and can cost a pretty penny. The most valuable are the rare colors like blues and greens as well as the ones that are clearly marked Texas Ware. Once the bowls became popular other companies began making them too. I have some of each and as far as usefulness they are the same.
After I started getting so many questions about the bowls I asked Granny where she got the one she always used and why she used it. She said “Oh I can’t remember where I got it. Maybe Sky City?”
Granny went on to tell me she knew how handy the bowls were because her mother Gazzie always used one to do her mixing up in too.
The bowls are light weight and clean up easy. Some folks don’t like them because they are made from melamine a type of resin. Another downside is they shouldn’t be put in the microwave or the dishwasher.
On Mondays I typically share something related to food or a recipe. My thoughts in this post are more centered on the vessel that held or help make much of the food I ate as a child and today.
This week I’ll be highlighting some of the summer goodness we’ve been eating from our old melamine bowls over the last several months.
Last night’s video: Picking Beans, Splitting Wood, & Signs of Fall of the Year.
Tipper
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TIPPER YOU ALWAYS SAY THERE ARE TONS OF STORIES. 2000 POUNDS IS A TON. AS YOU KNOW I ALLEN C. SMITH HAS BEEN WRITING MY LIFE STORY SINCE 2017 AND SO FAR I HAVE OVER 500 THOUSAND WORDS AND STILL WRITING. I WILL NEVER REACH A TON OF STORIES BUT I JUST BET I WILL REACH CLOSE TO TEN THOUSAND WORDS. LORD WILL I WILL BE 84 NEXT MARCH. I KNOW I AM MUCH OLDER THAN YOU BUT I NEVERR KNEW HOW TO COOK. THAT WENT TO THE GRAVE FIRST WITH MY MOTHER 21 YEARS AGO AND 10 YEARS AGO WITH MY WIFE KAREN. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT I JUST LOVER YOUR PROGRAM. THE MUSIC IS GREAT. GARDENS YOU TALK AND SHOW US MAKES MY MOUTH WATER. I ONCE HAD A GARDEN. AND MY SPECIALTY WAS HEIRLOM TOMATOES. ALTHOUGH I DID GET BUSHES OF ZUCCHINI EVERY YEAR. THAT WAS WHEN KAREN WAS ALIVE. SHE MADE ZUCCHINI BREAD AND FOR OUR NEIGHBOR WITH SMALL CHILDREN SHE WOULD SPRINKLE SMALL CHOCOLATE CHIPS ON TOP OF THE BREAD JUST BEFORE SDHE TOOK IT OUT OF THE OVEN AND I HAD TO USE POT HOLDERS TO DELIVER IT NEXT DOOR AND THE YOUNGINS JUST LOVED IT. . TIPPER YOU HAVE A BIG LOVING FAMILY AND IT DOES MY HEART GOOD EVERY TIME I GET TO CORRESPOND THANK YOU SO MUCH IN CLOSING I SAY (GOD) BLESS YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.
Reading this post and the comments sure brought back some precious memories of my Mommy. She loved beautiful dishes and cookware and they all had their own special purpose. She had Corelle dishes and Corning Ware which she loved because they were versatile, lightweight, and easy to work with as well as pretty. She also loved Fiesta Ware, Fire King, and Pyrex.
I share her love of dishes and cookware especially the older stuff all except for iron skillets. I like some foods cooked in them, but I never liked cooking with them myself because they are so heavy. I prefer to cook in old aluminum kettles and Club Ware.
Tipper, I know you’ve said before but I can’t remember. Where did you get the whisk you used go stir your batters and gravy?
Regina-glad you enjoyed this one! It’s a RADA whisk 🙂
I’ve never heard of Texas Ware, so I did a search on etsy just now; for one Texas Ware bowl, the price ranges from $38 for a Vintage Texas Ware 118 Mixing Bowl Melmac Gray Speckled Confetti to $145 for a Texas Ware 125 Melamine Bowl. I’m more of a glass bowl person, but they sure are pretty.
My set of cheap China made bowls say “microwavable”. I would say that was good but I can’t remember a time I felt the need to put a bowl like that in the microwave. If I ever do I’ll know I’m good to go!
Hello Tipper. I have made several comments on your mixing bowls. I have a green Texas Ware bowl like yours that used to be my mom’s. It is the perfect size for most of my dishes. I use it daily. I also had a smaller one but somehow it didn’t make it. Love your channel!
We still have a few Texas ware bowls that we use and like very much. We used to have a set of 8 Texas ware tumblers but sadly have lost all of them over the years
I wanted some of them bowls but never found any, so instead I found lightweight stainless steel bowls to use for mixing up recipes. I use glass bowls for the microwave and have gotten rid of as much plastic bowls as I could in the past. Now that I’m older the glass is getting heavier for me to handle, but I don’t want to go out and buy plastic ones. I do save plastic containers that some foods came in that are microwaveable so I can use them instead. When the inside start to look rough then I toss them in the recycling bin.
Somewhere back in time I had these bowls. What did I do with them..heaven only knows but I wish I had them back!
Enjoyed on line chat this morning while sitting on my back porch breaking beans.
Everyone have a great day..pray for Israel!
Morning everyone. I love how Miss Tipper’s stories on such things as these bowls and the commenters adding their parts to her stories. It evokes the lost memories of common household things our momma and daddy’s had and used while we were growing up. It sure warms the heart. Thanks for that Miss Tipper and all of you. Have a blessed week, stay safe and healthy always. Jennifer
I love old bowls. My mama had two she used more than any of her other ones. Daddy used them about as much as she did because he did enjoy cooking. One of the bowls was a large yellow Pyrex bowl and the other one was a Fire King. I still have the yellow one and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in this world. When I use it, it brings a smile to my face. I don’t know what happened to the Fire King bowl. I love the Texas Ware bowls but boy are they pricey on Etsy. We also had a Sky City store, but it’s long gone.
My mom always used the fiestaware nesting set, the ones in graduating sizes and each a different color (yellow, green, red, blue, etc.). When I got married she gave me my own set and I still use them all the time. It’s so cool to be watching an old movie and see that exact set of bowls used as props in the background of a kitchen scene!
I remember the melamine plates my mom had. They eventually became brittle and broke. By that time, Corelle had come along and she used those instead.
I was looking online at bowls and realized that my Mamas red bowl I loved was actually a vintage Pyrex bowl, not Corning ware.
My mom always used a red bowl (I think it was Corning ware) for everything from mixing to serving. I loved that bowl, but it was broken long ago. I do have two large, white ceramic bowls that belonged to my Mama. She didn’t have room for them when they downsized to a small apartment. I treasure those, along with a small brown glass candy bowl that belonged to my grandma.
Thinking back I know several cooks who have favorite bowls. I never heard of Texas Ware until a few years ago. I’ve never had any but have odd stainless steel mixing bowls. Over the years I found them at thrift stores and estate sales and replaced the heavy glass ones I was gifted 50 years ago. Randy, I also have my original Corning Ware baking dishes from my wedding shower and have kept them looking like new. One has a chipped handle. I’ve picked up a few more along the way. My daughter-in-law wasn’t interested when I offered a few extra. I rarely if ever use them on top of the stove for cooking but bake or microwave in them daily. I have a large green pottery bowl of my grandmothers with horizontal grooves around the outside and a serving bowl with a picture of a house in the center that she used to hand whip egg whites with a chicken wire flat beater with wire handle. I can still see her using both. Mother would also make her biscuits mixing by hand as described with no measurements. Tipper, you have stirred up some memories today!
Very interesting. I’ve just been reading about them. The Texas Ware bowls have numbers that indicate size. Tipper, would you please tell us the numbers of the nesting bowl set you have? I just ordered the 118 which (I think) is a 10”. I would like to know your numbers that next.
Carole-the largest is 125. The middle 118 and the smallest 111 🙂
Mine is the 111.
Ed I do apologize for the mix up. I’m so embarrassed
I’m so sorry that my use of that name embarrassed you. I’m sorry I made you feel bad. I thought it was funny but apparently you don’t. I promise you won’t ever see it from me again. Please forgive me!
Growing up my mom had a green ceramic mixing bowl she used. She told us that her father had found it when he was plowing a field. My sister and I were always warned to be careful when using this bowl as it was a prized possession of my mom’s. Unfortunately mom is the one who accidentally dropped it and broke it. By her own admission, she learned a lesson about putting too much pride in a material possession. Still it was sad when it broke. I have fond memories of watching mom mix countless cakes batters, cookie doughs etc in that bowl.
I have a bowl my mother bought in 1948 a year before I was born. While growing up I watched her prepare a lot of foods in the pretty flowery bowl but what I remember the most is the delicious biscuits she made. She layered the bottom of the bowl with flour and added the rest of the ingredients. Using her hand, she mixed everything together, cupped off a piece of the dough and placed it in an iron skillet. She usually topped off the biscuits with a spoonful of bacon or sausage grease. They always came out perfectly shaped and I never tasted a bad biscuit. Mom never used recipes when she cooked. At 95 she still prepares her and my brethren’s meals every day. It takes her a little longer, but she gets the job done. I have the bowl sitting on top of my kitchen cabinets as a reminder of my childhood and mother. I have many types of bowls but not as pretty as this one.
Should be, “brother’s” meals not “brethren’s”.
Morning everyone. Every morning I drink my first cup of coffee with sleepy eyes reading Blind Pig. A great way to start my day. I also have some bowls. 2 Texas ware, one pinkish and one lt brown or dk beige, can’t say what color. Also I have a Boonton bowl. There is something special about them. No my mom and aunts didn’t have any. I bought these. I like the sound my hand or fingers make on them, reminds me of something. Hope everyone is doing well. Anna from Arkansas.
I was wondering if you still have a Sky City where you live. The only one where we live in Blount County, TN is long gone. I have some good memories of taking my little son Jason there many years ago. Growing up, and even with 10 in the family, moma didn’t have many bowls and often set her mixture of pots and pans and even iron skillets on the table at mealtime. She had a meal and flour bin and made her biscuits right on the counter. She had an old black (from all the biscuits she made over the years) she used. She often made daddy an egg biscuit for his dinner to take to work and an old Stanley Thermos he carried full of hot coffee everyday. He was a master carpenter even though he never had much education. Have a blessed day everyone.
Drama- Sky City closed ages ago here too 🙂
I’ve always liked your bowls. I’ve seen the similar ones on Amazon but never heard of Texas ware I’ll have to look them up. I recently got some baking sheets and mixing bowls from Nordic ware and I’ve been really happy with them. And they say they’re American made so that’s a big plus.
I don’t know about the mixing bowls, but my wife had something that I will call baking dishes, made by Corning Ware that she loved. I still use them but treat them like they were gold. They were give to her as a wedding shower present, and are 50 years old. The last time I looked on eBay there were pretty expensive. By the way, I wonder how many people remember Sky City, one of mine and my wife’s favorite places to shop in our early years of marriage.
Tipper and her food. Every since she wrote about fried okra a few weeks ago I have been craving some. This weekend I foundered myself, Saturday my son and I cooked us a supper of fried okree, Mississippi purple hull peas cooked with a chunk of fatback, baked ham, cornbread and cherry pie. The peas and okree were homegrown by me last year. The deer got it all this year. Speaking of deer, awhile back I mentioned my friend playing a talk radio station on a radio at night he has put in his large garden of okree, peas and other things. I talked to him last night and he said so far this has kept the deer from eating them. He plants a large field of these things to sell each year, about another month and he will be selling sweet potatoes,(set our 25,000 plants) right now he is selling homegrown watermelons and cantaloupes along with the okra, some of his watermelons are in the range of 75 lbs.
I only have the smallest Texas Ware bowl. Missy bought it for me a few years back. She also got me a set of the newer ones. Mostly I use the biggest one.
I call them splatterware. I don’t know where I picked that up!
I had never heard of Texas Ware Bowls until today -a bowl is a bowl to me. I looked them up on EBay and saw some that were called splatter melamine. Maybe this is the were you picked up on the name splatterware. These bowls are right pricey. If my wife was still living, I would buy some for her, I think she would like them.
Did you notice the center bowl was smiling??
I smiled back.
I first saw your green Texas Ware bowl several years ago ( on one of your baking videos ) and I thought it was really a neat bowl. I asked you then where it came from. After I got the manufacturer from you I set out on a quest to get me a set. Well I wound up with two. We live in Texas half the year and the other half in the Black Hills of South Dakota in the summer months. That’s why I wanted two sets. They are wonderful and thank you for writing about them.
My sisters, who are great cookers (as Chatter would say), have my mom’s bowls. she did not have Texas cookware, but some massive ceramic bowls as well as some multi-colored nesting bowls.
My mom was a good cook,but a great baker!
I have the old Texas Ware bowls too and I love mine as well. In fact, I have a love of old bowls in general. I have some of my sweet momma’s bowls and some of my grandmother’s bowls. They are precious to me and I think of them when I use them. I guess that is silly, but we used them together and money couldn’t buy them.
I also have an old iron skillet that both of my grandmothers used. It is a huge one. I can’t remember the number, but my paternal grandmother had 7 children and she felt my other grandmother needed it worse because she had 13 children so she sent it to her. To my knowledge they never met. That seemed a sweet gesture to me.
Anyway, we second hand shop and it’s hard to pass up a pretty bowl up. I think of the hands that made so many good things in them. I always wonder why people give up such nice things and I especially wonder why they give up quilts. Maybe they have no one to pass them too….
Debbie, I have some cast iron frying pans and a Dutch oven all made by Lodge, in my other comment I mentioned cooking cornbread, it was baked in a 50 year old Lodge frying pan given to us as a wedding present. The lady that gave it to us told my wife she could not only use it for cooking but also use it to keep Randy straight, she knew me too! Another lifelong friend that has now passed on.
Once again you 4 (thus far) show me it is love that raises objects above their material worth and utility. Which makes me wonder, what is the “thread” that Jesse Stuart was writing about that “runs so true”? I remember a bowl my Grandma had. It was off-white with a pink band. It might have been a McCoy.
Debbie – I also go to thrift stores.. addicted to seasonal devil egg plates. Found one with bunnies..looks pretty on the table at Easter!
My mother had one bowl she used it a lot when we cleaned the house after she and my father passed away it was the only thing I wanted to keep