I have made rice in a rice cooker for years now. A question that I am often asked is “How do you choose the best rice cooker?” The good news is that these kitchen appliances are becoming more and more readily available all over the Americas so now more and more people can enjoy rice as is should be eaten.
There are a load of different brands that you can look at. Some are U.S. companies and others are made overseas. I hope no one takes offense when I say you should only consider Japanese rice cookers. The electronics industry in Japan is world famous and their rice cookers are without question, the best you can get. Popular brands in the U.S. and Canada include Zojirushi, Sanyo and Panasonic. It is also possible to get Tiger models too but even though they are one of the top rice cooker manufacturers in Japan they are not as widely available as the other three brands.
There are a few different things you should look for when you think about purchasing a rice cooker. To begin with, probably the most important technological feature is that you go for a Micom machine. This is a feature, not a brand. All Japanese manufacturers make Micom machines but not all of their machines are Micom so you must make sure you know which is which. Micom stands for Micro Computerized. So a Micom rice cooker has a computer chip that is the “brains” of the device. With this type of appliance you are virtually guaranteed great tasting rice. This type of product starts at about $100 so they are not exactly low cost. But they certainly are high quality.
The size of machine you should buy is also of importance. If you are living alone, then I recommend you do what I just did recently (I live alone) and get a 3 cup rice cooker. My new rice cooker is definitely the best I have ever owned. But more on that in my next post!
