Rice Cookers are a special kind of kitchen appliance that you must have in your kitchen if love rice and want to save time. There are many kinds of rice cookers on the market. This rice cooker buying guide will help you to understand the different types of rice cookers, how they work and the kind of rice to use.

A rice cooker simplifies the process of cooking rice. This is because after you have put the required ingredients and and rice, you do not have to keep checking all the time if all the water has been absorbed. The cooker senses and monitors the temperature inside the pot keeping it at boiling point; 100 degrees Celsius, and therefore, the heat cannot go past that point. Once all the water has been absorbed, the temperature rises .  However, the cooker prevents the rice from burning.  If the temperatures passes optimum cooking temperature, sensor triggers the switch to shut down.

Finding the best rice cooker can be difficult.  However, here are some tips to help you.

First, make a decision about the size you want.  This depends on your family size or budget.  After that, choose the material you.  It can be aluminum, stainless steel or ceramic. Aluminum cannot be washed because water may spoil the inner parts of the aluminum.  Fortunately for stainless steel, it can be washed since the inner parts can be removed. On the other hand, ceramic is small since they can be carried when you want to pack your food.

Power Source

The source of power matters. Do you want a natural gas rice cooker or an electric one?

An electric gas cooker can be a bit slower than the gas rice cooker.

Gas cookers cook rice much faster but have to be connected to a natural gas source.

Furthermore, you have to decide the purpose of the rice cooker. There are those that cook and keep the rice for about three hours. Then there are those that just cook, then the moment the rice is ready, you serve right away. These can be somehow cheaper than the other ones.

A rice cooker is very simple to use.  They always come with instructions on how to use it.  The basic steps are to However, it is to measure the amount of water you use in regard to the amount of the brown rice you want to cook and then know how to switch it on and off.

If you are cooking brown rice, make sure you rinse it.  The standard ration is one cup of brown rice to two cups of water. It is advisable to add just a little salt since everybody does not take the same amount. Make sure to close the lid firmly. Once you turn the cooker on, do not open unless necessary.

Gas rice cookers are great since it takes a very short time to properly cook rice. It has a lid that is used to close when cooking. This prevents pressure from getting in or out and thus allowing water to boil faster.  In addition, a rice cooker can be used to cook other foods apart from rice. More so, the cooker warms your food for a long period of time. The best part is that you do not have to monitor it since it shuts itself off when the food is ready.

Other than brown rice, you can use the rice cooker to prepare short grain white, parboiled rice, and Basmati or Jasmine rice.