Choosing the Type of Rice Cooker
As technology advances more types of rice cookers become available and with the advanced technology, extra features and bonuses develop from the previous in order to make cooking rice better. The types of rice cooker available are:
>>Conventional Rice Cookers
>>Micom Rice Cookers
>>Induction Heating Rice Cookers
>>Pressure Cooking Rice Cooker
Now let’s dive into each rice cooker type and discuss why you may want to go ahead and purchase the specific rice cooker type.
Conventional Rice Cookers – Most Basic & Simplistic of them All
These rice cookers are the most basic and simplest to use with really one switch to start cooking…and that’s it. Of course you will have to prepare the rice before hand, rinse, soak etc but really they have no features or settings there to distract you or confuse you.
Heating Technology
Basic heating plate located at the base, beneath the inner rice pan where the rice is placed and cooked in. The heating plate contains a Thermal sensing device that detects the temperature of the rice in the pan. Hence when the heating plate starts to cook the rice the thermal device will know the temperature of the rice and when to stop cooking. It knows when to stop cooking when the temperature of the rice starts to increase past boiling point…this will be when the rice has absorbed the water.
Why Choose a Conventional Rice Cooker?
Conventional rice cookers are the best rice cookers to learn and due to their simplicity they are often recommended to beginners who are starting out to cook. Apart from their simplicity they are the cheapest rice cookers available as they have no advanced features or settings. However they do tend to have the “keep rice warm” feature which is one of the most desired when it comes to rice cookers. Not to be deterred away because of the price or lack of advanced features though as they can still produce well cooked rice.
Micom Rice Cookers – Introducing Computer Chips
Upgrading from conventional rice cookers is the Micom or perhaps you may also know them as fuzzy logic rice cookers. The real difference with Micom compared to Conventional is that it has its own computer chip to enhance rice cooking.
Purpose of the Computer Chip
Micom Rice cookers are designed to have more control over the cooking rice, because with rice cookers you just want to switch it on and leave it to cook. Sometimes with conventional rice cookers you want to soak the rice before cooking plus leave it to soften up with the steam still contained in the cooker. But you really have to do this manually as it wont soak the rice and it wont time an extra 15 minutes to soften the rice after cooking. Which is where Micom rice cookers have a greater advantage, they will take all additional timings and processes into consideration and do it for you automatically.
Apart from that you want perfect rice at the end and this is where these rice cookers also Surpass conventional types. The computer chip within the rice cooker will monitor the rice throughout the whole cooking process and adjust temperatures to perfect the rice.
Even further with these types is that they will be programmed with various cooking times for different types of rice! So not only are the cooking rice they are perfecting the cooking of different rice types for example, you may want to cook brown rice instead of white rice and there is no setting for this with the conventional cookers compared to those with computer chips.
As you can see from the above there are various advantages of having the Micom rice cookers instead. You may be wondering about negatives? Is there any reason to buy conventional cookers instead…With higher technology comes more money, they are more expensive as well as you lose the simplicity of one switch which means little extra time in the handbook. Overall they contain more features and control but at a higher cost.
Induction Heating Rice Cookers – Advanced Heating Technology
Induction rice cookers enhance the heating technology for the cooker so that far greater control is managed when cooking the rice. They do tend to contain the computer chips as well so retain all previous technology that Micom rice cookers possess.
Heating Technology
Heating of the rice in an induction rice cooker brings out more control and accurate measurements due to a magnetic field. Current is passed through magnetic coils which allow heat to be spread around the cooking pan resulting in a constant temperature given to the rice from all around the rice pan. Previous heating technology sent heat upwards to the rice instead of a constant heat all around the rice pan.
Other advantages from induction heating are:
More control over the temperature. If the rice cooker detects that the rice is at a higher temperature than it should be, it can change the temperature in an instant by changing the strength of the alternating current passing through the magnetic coils.
More precise temperatures can be presented due to the evenly spread heat directed onto the rice.
Overall
Induction heating systems really add further control and temperature readings which can be adjusted in a second. This is perfect to maintain the rice at an ideal cooking setting and produce perfect rice every time. Of course further technology equals more money.
Pressure Induction Heating Rice Cookers – Addition of Pressure Cooking
Latest technology of rice cookers has brought pressure cooking into the mix. Pressure cooking is a fast way of cooking rice through the pressure of a liquid such as water. With this technology rice is cooked at greater temperatures which affects the starch in the rice and produces softer rice that is able to stay soft for longer periods of time. By consuming softer rice we are able to digest it more quickly.
That’s really about it for pressure rice cookers, they add that extra high temperatures that bring out even more softer and faster prepared rice. With no doubt they will be the most expensive types of rice cookers out their due to their extra functionality and technology.
Summary
There you have it, a explanation of the different types of rice cookers available today. This hopefully gave you more insight to the various types and what they have to offer.