First electric rice cookers were developed in Japan, where they are known as suihanki meaning “boil rice device”. The first electric rice cooker was invented by Yoshitada Minami.

The development of electric rice cookers began in the Taisho Era (1912-1926). The first automatic rice cooker for household was available in Japan market in 1955. It was by Toshiba after they spent five years developing it.

The technology in rice cooker is using the electric current through coils around the pot. It produces a magnetic field that heats up the metal in the pot. The heat will make the temperature of the entire pot rises quickly and cooks the rice evenly. A With a thermostat installed the device can detect when the temperature rises above 100 C (212 F) in the container and it turns itself off automatically.

This process can be found in the IH (Induction Heating) rice cookers type. It is the type of rice cookers we find in the market today. In Asia where rice cooking is generally done everyday, rice cooker machine has evolved into an extremely high-tech machine.

The simple models only have one button that switches over to the warm setting when the rice is finished cooking. Other state-of-the-art models have more modes for cooking like making porridge, steaming and even cake.

A great way to use your rice cooker efficiently is to cook meat together with the rice in the rice cooker. Just put your rice in the rice cooker pot and then place your seasoned meat on top of it. The pressure and steam created should cook your rice as well as the meat thoroughly. Less dishes and less time to prepare your meal.

Some suggests that rice cooked in a pressure cooker tastes good because of its texture. While the steamed rice is healthier as it has lesser fat content due to the removal of starch. So far starch is considered as one of the main reasons for gaining weight.

A note when you get mushy rice, is probably means that you cooked it too long with too much water. It can cause the rice grains to split open and make your rice squishy and gooey. And remember rice will double when cooked. The brown rice doubles in both volume and weight after cooking while the white rice triples in both volume and weight after cooking. With white rice, one cup of it will produce 3 cups for instance.

One thing you should be aware is, today many rice cookers have an inner pot made of aluminium coated with non-stick Teflon. If the Teflon coating is scratched, the pot can release dangerous chemicals. Teflon is safe as long as it is not scratched or overheat. The purpose of the non-stick Teflon coating is to prevent rice from sticking to the pot’s surface.

With multi purpose ability, a modern day rice cooker is not just called a “rice cooker” but typically a “multi cooker”.