How Rice Cookers Work

If you eat rice on a daily basis, having a rice cooker will prove to be a great advantage, especially if you have a high quality one. Cheaper rice cookers may cook rice, but their performance may not be consistent and they may not be durable. There are basically three kinds of rice cookers and they offer users different advantages. Their price tags, of course, will also depend on how technologically advanced they are.

The basic or the traditional rice cooker works by heating a plate at the bottom of the pan. The inner pot of the rice cooker will then heat up through conduction as it sits on the heating plate. When you turn on the cooker, the inner pot will heat up bring the water in it to a boil, and then it will remain at this temperature until all the water is gone. When the last drop of water has evaporated, the built in temperature sensors will detect the rise in temperature and then either automatically trigger the rice cooker to switch to Keep Warm mode or turn itself off. It’s very simple to use but it also has limited functions and features – you can only cook rice and keep it warm for a short period of time. It’s only advantage over the other kinds of rice cookers is its cheap price.

Another kind of rice cooker is the fuzzy logic. These kinds of rice cookers are more advanced because they have a built-in microprocessor. It works the same way as the traditional ones but it has more functions. The microprocessor can monitor the rise of the temperature and automatically make adjustments to how long it will cook the rice. It can also adjust the amount of heat on the heating plate according to temperature changes in the environment and according to the kind of rice you are cooking. Fuzzy logic rice cookers will also give you a greater control over it functions. You will be able to cook different kinds of rice and even steam vegetables and meat products and set its cooking settings according to your preferences. Some models even let you keep your food warm for up to 12 hours while others has a delay timer that will cook the food whenever you need it to, even if you are not around.

The third kind of rice cooker cooks rice through heat induction. This type of heating is usually found in more expensive rice cookers. They also have a built in microprocessor, so they have the same benefits of the fuzzy logic ones. What is unique about induction heating rice cookers is that the entire inner pot itself is the heating element. There is no need for a heating plate to conduct heat to the inner pot, because it will heat up through induction. Induction works through the generation of a magnetic field to heat up the entire inner pot all at once. The heat is dispersed evenly and rice will also be cooked more evenly.

Temperature settings can also be controlled more accurately. The rice cooker can even automatically adjust its settings if you placed the wrong rice to water ratio in it. Rice cookers with heat induction are generally more expensive, but they will consistently give you perfectly cooked rice each and every time you use it.

Only you can decide what type of rice cooker you need but if your budget allows it, I suggest you get the induction heating rice cooker. It’s absolutely worth its price tag.