Rice Cooker

A rice cooker is a kitchen appliance that is used to cook rice. The rice cooker is also called a rice steamer. There are two versions of rice cooker; gas and electrical. This concept of rice cooker was invented in 1250 BC and now the first rice cooker is displayed in the British Museum.

History of Rice Cooker

In 1940, the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation invented the first automatic rice cooker. At that time, there was no timing mechanism in cooker and it simply had a heating coil inside it. Later many changes were made to rice cooker, and currently advanced version of automatic rice cooker is ruling the market.

Currently, there are nine types of rice cookers. The rice cookers are developed in different shapes and sizes with unique features. They are classified as follows.

Microwave Rice Cookers

Mechanism of Microwave Rice Cookers is relatively simpler than the other rice cookers. A cooker has a lid and bowl to remove the steam inside the microwave.

Black and Decker Rice Steamer

The Black and Decker Rice Steamer has a special feature called automatic warmer, which prevents rice from cool down for hours. For easy serving, storage and cleaning, it has a removable cord.

Andrew Weil, M.D. Rice Cooker

This is a high performance rice cooker, which can perform three rice functions; quick, brown, and white rice.

Zojirushi NS-KCC05 Micom Rice Cooker

With the help of this rice cooker, rice can be cooked for two adults; up to three cups of rice can be cooked at a time. With the help of this cooker, one can cook various varieties of rice recipes.

Fuzzy Logic Rice Cooker

This is a superb rice cooker that has a programmed chip inside it. This rice cooker works according to program and it can suffice to the entire family. What’s more, it has superior control over controlling in comparison to other types of rice cookers.

Breville Stainless Steel Rice Cooker

The Breville Stainless Steel Rice Cooker has a non-stick cabin. The tempered glass lid allows the user to examine the cooking item while cooking. This in turn ensures that you don’t mess up anything, and realize the same only after the damage has been done. Since you can monitor the items being cooked inside the cooker, you can easily make out any possible mishaps inside the cooker.

Sanyo Micro-Computerized Rice Cooker

The interior of this cooker is painted with a titanium coating, and it comes with a round shaped bottom. Because of this round shaped bottom, the cooker absorbs more heat and it cooks faster.

Top Brands of Rice Cookers

Most of the rice cookers are manufactured in Asian countries, since rice is an essential component of Asian people. The most famous Asian brands are Tiger Corporation, Sanjo, and Zojirushi. The American brands are Panasonic, Black & Decker, and Aroma.

How an Electric-Rice Cooker Works

Usually, the blown-in rice cooker is detachable, and underneath the surface, it has a thermostat and spring. Grouping of these components creates a rice cooker. The spring located under the rice cooker is designed to ensure connection of the thermostat to base.

While cooking, the mixture should be continuously heated. But, the temperature of cooker should not exceed water’s boil point (100°C (212°F)). During the process of cooking, water inside the cooker is absorbed by rice. At this point, the heating will be exceeded more than boiling point of water. Then the process of cooking stops; however, with the help of thermostat, the rice in the cooker remains warm for several hours.