The Evolution of the Rice Cooker

Rice, what can you say about it other than It’s one of the biggest food staples in all the world. That is one of the reasons why people have learned to cook it in so many different ways. Some cultures still cook rice in black kettles over open flame while at the same time other cultures cook their rice in advanced rice cookers that do most of the work for you. Most of you these days will use some sort of electric rice cooker when preparing your rice, so let’s take a closer look at these interesting cooking apparatus.

History of the Electric Rice Cooker

The basic principles behind the electric rice cooker date all the way back to the time of Christ. This was a device that became popular in Japan to cook rice called the Kamado. The first experimentation with electric rice cookers dates all the way back to the year 1912 in Japan, but it was not until 1955 that the first successful commercial version of a rice cooker went on sale. It was put out by Toshiba Corporation after being designed by a man named Yoshitada Minami. Today electric rice cookers come in all different shapes, sizes and types.

How does a rice cooker work? In simple layman’s terms it works by trapping hot air so water cannot reach its boiling point. This forces the heat and water into the rice until it cannot hold any more and then the water has no choice but to boil again. A rice cooker has a thermal device in it that senses this secondary boiling process and shuts the device down because it then knows the rice is done cooking. It’s pretty creative and pretty simple to say the least. If you had thought of it first you would be worth many millions of dollars today.

Modern day Rice Cookers

In modern times electric rice cookers come in many different forms but for simplicity purpose, these will be broken down into three main categories. Let’s name them standard, improved and best.
Here is a little bit more detail about each one:

Standard Electric Rice Cooker

This is just a very basic rice cooker that has not changed much in design in many years, and there is no need to because they work very well. They take all the guesswork out of cooking rice. All you need to do is measure the dry rice, add it and then put in the proper amount of water. The rice cooker does the rest and makes really good moist rice almost every time if you have measured the rice and water right.

These rice cookers even shut off the cooking cycle when they sense the rice is done and then switch over to a mode that keeps the rice warm until you decide it’s time to turn the rice cooker off. These are fairly inexpensive, and cooking rice with them could not possibly be easier. They always get very favorable rice cooker reviews by those that use them.

Here is a quick recap of how a standard electric rice cooker works:
•    Simple and no guesswork rice cooking
•    Add in the right amount of rice and water
•    Automatically shuts off the cooking cycle when it senses the rice is done
•    Keeps the rice warm until you are ready to use it

Millions of these have been sold all over the world, and they have made cooking rice easily with electricity affordable for almost everyone.

Improved Rice Cookers

As fate would have it, people could not settle for just an electric rice cooker that was simple to use and made fairly good rice on a consistent basis, so they had to take it to another level. Hence the ‘improved rice cooker’ was born. Although cooking the rice was similar to standard style rice cookers, these gave users a few more rice cooking options and seemed to upgrade the quality of the cooked rice slightly.

So what are the improvements in these rice cookers? For one they have added digital features such as timers into the operation of the rice cooker; these enable you to tell how much cooking time is left. They also can sense different temperatures so they can handle cooking both white and brown rice. These improved rice cooker versions still have a mode to keep the rice warm and can even steam it slightly to fluff it up when necessary.

Here is a quick recap of how an improved electric rice cooker works:
•    Simple and no guesswork rice cooking
•    Add in the right amount of rice and water
•    Automatically shuts off the cooking cycle when it senses the rice is done
•    Keeps the rice warm until you are ready to use it
•    Has the ability to steam and fluff the rice before serving
•    Can also cook brown rice

The rice cooker reviews on these improved versions are very favorable a majority of the time.

Best Rice Cooker

This style of electric rice cookers has made cooking rice into an art form. If you are one of those that likes there rice a certain way, then these are a must own kitchen device for you. That have taken the best aspects of improved rice cookers and greatly expanded upon them. A unit considered to be in the best rice cooker category will really take rice making to a whole new level.

So how do they work? They have added several new modes and improved upon the existing ones. They are very versatile rice cookers that feature such things as LED readouts and timers you can control yourself. They will not only cook white and brown rice for you and you have such additional choices as making porridge, steaming sushi and they also have a quick cooking cycle.

Here is a quick recap of how a best rice cooker works:
•    Simple and no guesswork rice cooking
•    Add in the right amount of rice and water
•    Automatically shuts off the cooking cycle when it senses the rice is done
•    Keeps the rice warm until you are ready to use it
•    They have improved timer features and LED readouts
•    Has the ability to steam and fluff the rice before serving
•    Can also cook brown rice and make porridge or sushi
•    Some use advanced heat induction cooking

How are the rice cooker reviews for these products? Those who have used them rave about the quality of the rice they can make with them and also rave about how versatile these rice cookers are. It is pretty amazing how far rice cookers have evolved and all the different things you can do with these devices at the present time.

The Future of Electric Rice Cookers

What does the future hold for electric rice cookers? No one really knows for sure. One thing is certain though; when the first electric rice cooker came out, everyone thought it was perfect yet someone still improved upon it. You can expect that trend to continue. Even with the advanced technology in some of today’s electric cookers, you should still not be surprised if someone comes up with an even better one. The best rice cooker in the future may even add the dry rice and water into it for you.