Preheatable dining stones keep dinner warm

One of the sad realities in the culinary world is that even expertly cooked food tends to cool off—often much sooner than one would like. While there are a variety of electric plate warmers on the market to try to keep things warm, a new innovation from Iowa-based Roccia Bollente Dining Stones uses natural granite to keep meals steamy until the last bite. Each Dining Stone set includes a precision-cut granite stone disc—available in a variety of colours—and a custom-fitted wooden tray to hold it in cherry, alder or ash. The stones take just 15 minutes to heat in a 350-degree oven; once they’re hot, they are simply placed under dinner plates to keep food warm. Even after 45 minutes, their surface temperature is still 220 degrees, Roccia Bollente says. And while the primary motivation behind their creation was keeping hot food warm, the stones are equally useful for keeping chilled foods cold—an hour in the freezer makes them cold enough to keep salads crisp and drinks icy, the company says. A 9-inch set was designed to warm dinner plates, while a smaller, 6-inch version was designed with chilled salad plates in mind, but consumers can use each for either purpose. Pricing begins at USD 40 for the smaller set, and USD 60 for the larger version. Launched this fall, Roccia Bollente plans to sell its Dining Stones to restaurants, caterers, wholesalers, kitchen stores and gift shops. One to get in on early….?