Rice Cooker and Rice Varieties (people)

[CyberCity]

Due to health (safety) concerns, I no longer us any teflon/non-stick coated cooking utensils/pans in my own kitchen. I've also eliminated about 90% of my aluminum cookware. It has taken me a few years of concentrated effort, but now it is almost all stainless steel cookware for my home use. (Although I know that it is anyone's guess on what utensils/pans are used in restaurants that I eat in.) Still, I can control what goes on in my own kitchen.

I've a great new stainless steel pressure cooker. The next time I need to buy a rice cooker, I'll get a stainless steel cooking bowl model (or if I see one on sale).

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

Due to health (safety) concerns, I no longer us any teflon/non-stick coated cooking utensils/pans in my own kitchen. I've also eliminated about 90% of my aluminum cookware

Better stop eating in restaurants, then, because aluminum pots and pans are nearly all they use in restaurant kitchens.

Personally I don't share your concerns... extensive studies have shown that neither teflon or aluminum is really a health threat to the public at large, and I find them convincing. Teflon is more non-reactive than stainless steel, for example.

The early health warnings on aluminum seem to have gotten it backwards... aluminum concentration in the brain does not cause Alzheimers. But the reverse may be true, that Alzheimers might cause aluminum to concentrate in the brain.

But since aluminium is such a common, naturally occurring element... the third most abundant in the world... that it is in pretty much everything we eat, so it is essentially unavoidable.

Research in this area has been inconclusive; aluminium accumulation may be a consequence of the disease rather than a causal agent. In any event, if there is any toxicity of aluminium, it must be via a very specific mechanism, since total human exposure to the element in the form of naturally occurring clay in soil and dust is enormously large over a lifetime. - "Alzheimer's Disease and Aluminum". National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 2005. via Wikipedia

And teflon, even if you shaved off big hunks and ate them, would pass through your system unchanged, because the material is chemically inert.

The one big advantage to stainless steel is that it is pretty, but some people are allergic to the nickel in the alloy, like me, and there's concern that chromium may leach out of the metal over time when acidic foods are cooked in it, so I guess there's really nothing that's 100% without possible concerns.

Oh, maybe Pyrex glass.

[CyberCity]

Here's some quick unsourced info, I'll leave it to the individual to make their own determination on if they want to do some additional research or not. But in the meanwhile, I'll cook at home with stainless steel and feel that I'm doing my best to help my family's environment/health.

The nonstick coating used in non-stick pans has been found to release one or more of 15 different toxic gases when heated to certain temperatures.

It is also recommended to replace any non-stick pans that have a scratched surface as this may increase the chances of the toxicity upon heating.

However, in studies of heated non-stick pans on conventional stove tops – commissioned by the consumer watchdog organization Environmental Working Group (EWG) – it only took two to five minutes to reach temperatures that can release dangerous toxins.

Non-stick caoting is usually used to cover aluminum which in itself is a dangerous metal – implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Personal choices, it is a wonderful thing!

[whtviper1]

Aren't you supposed to link the source of copyrighted material?

[davephan]

One other health concern about eating rice is trace amounts of arsenic in rice. To reduce any possible arsenic trace amounts in rice Consumer's Reports recommends rinsing raw rice before cooking. I do this with a food strainer I bought at Walmart for about $10. The food strainer is large enough for the raw rice used in a 14-cup rice cooker. They also have smaller and larger food strainers.

Trace amounts of arsenic is in other foods too, so don't think you are totally safe by simply not eating rice.

Arsenic in Your Food | Consumer Reports Investigation

Mainstays American Housewares 8" Food Strainer: Kitchen & Dining : Walmart.com

[BuenoQueHacemohAhora]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

Due to health (safety) concerns, I no longer us any teflon/non-stick coated cooking utensils/pans in my own kitchen. I've also eliminated about 90% of my aluminum cookware. It has taken me a few years of concentrated effort, but now it is almost all stainless steel cookware for my home use. (Although I know that it is anyone's guess on what utensils/pans are used in restaurants that I eat in.) Still, I can control what goes on in my own kitchen.

I've a great new stainless steel pressure cooker. The next time I need to buy a rice cooker, I'll get a stainless steel cooking bowl model (or if I see one on sale).

We use a clay pot rice cooker, and have been real happy with it.

Amazon.com: VitaClay VF7700-6 Chef Gourmet 6-Cup Rice and Slow Cooker: Kitchen & Dining

[OpenD]

Good Googly Moogly! Talk about overcomplicating things!

I'm just trying to get somebody who has never really cooked anything started on a very, very simple baby step, to buy himself a $15 rice cooker and a pound of rice and use it to make some simple, basic food and use that to feed himself ... and just when it looks like we're in the home stretch... the forum explodes with alt-med concerns and midwest thinking that all seem intent on making life more complicated than it really needs to be at this stage of the game for this young man, newly arrived in Hawai'i.

Why, with all these potential roadblocks being thrown in his path, the poor lad might just cancel his order at Amazon and gradually starve himself to death as he more fully researches all the nooks and crannies of the world of Oryza sativa (Asian rice).

Originally Posted by CyberCity

The nonstick coating used in non-stick pans has been found to release one or more of 15 different toxic gases when heated to certain temperatures.

Yes, and that certain temperature is 660 F, which is so far above the normal operating temperature of a rice cooker (212 F), as to be completely irrelevant to this conversation. Matter of fact, if something failed to work properly and the temperature were to rise abnormally there's even a thermal fuse inside which will permanently disconnect the power if it hits about 375 F, to prevent possible fires. But to complete the thought, every type of pan releases toxic gases when heated to 660 F because of the incineration of cooking oils and food residue trapped in the pores of the metal. The moral of the story is, don't put any pot on a stove empty, turn the burner up to high, and walk away and leave it unattended for 5 minutes.

Non-stick caoting is usually used to cover aluminum which in itself is a dangerous metal – implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Dangerous metal? It's the third most abundant element on earth, we all have aluminum in our bodies for our entire lives, we all ingest aluminum every day, and excrete it everyday, and there is no real concern by mainstream health scientists about the use of aluminum for pots and pans and food containers. Like almost everything else it can become toxic in certain forms, none of which are present in aluminum cookware.

Originally Posted by davephan

One other health concern about eating rice is trace amounts of arsenic in rice.

Aye, chihuahua! Can we let the poor guy get a bite in his mouth before we start warning him about all the possible things that he might oughta worry about? OK, let's review... it is the long grain rice from the American south which has the highest arsenic levels, like Texas based Mahatma brand, partly because of previous use of arsenic to kill rodents in the fields, and partly because there's naturally occurring arsenic in the groundwater. California grown rice, on the other hand, has much lower arsenic levels, as shown by Lundberg's ratings on the chart in that article. And what do folks buy in Hawai'i? 90% of them buy Calrose rice, from California. Most of the rest is from Asia. Very little is from Texas, Louisiana, or Arkansas because their rice has to be shipped much farther, and medium grain rice is much more in demand.

To reduce any possible arsenic trace amounts in rice Consumer's Reports recommends rinsing raw rice before cooking.

The problem with that is that it reduces the nutritional content of the rice by about 30% and effectively removes all the enrichment from enriched rice. That's a big price to pay if the actual arsenic content of the actual rice you buy is not actually high enough to really worry about. And if you will notice, a whole lot of people in Hawai'i eat a whole lot of rice on a daily basis without any noticeable arsenic-related health crisis occurring. Sure, it's something to be aware of, and to watch as a developing story, but not to change your life over because of something that some consumers group said somewhere.

Remember when all the people went blind because they developed cataracts from watching color TVs, after ignoring all the warnings from consumer groups? Yeah, me neither.

As to the rice washers, here's another difference between Minnesota and Hawai'i... not only do we have entire supermarket sections devoted to Asian noodles, but you can also buy rice washers there for a couple of bucks.

Originally Posted by BuenoQueHacemohAhora

We use a clay pot rice cooker, and have been real happy with it.

Nice, if you can deal with the slower cooking times, the heavier pot, and the fact that the pot is breakable. Fortunately none of those factors apply to the COOKER THE OP ALREADY ORDERED which should arrive any day now!

OK, can everybody just step back a little now and let this fellow take a simple, easy little step into cooking for himself?

Oh, and since we've veered waayyyy off the Maui, Hawai'i theme of this forum, I think any further digressions probably ought to paddle over to the Food forum, or maybe Health and Wellness, before our long-suffering moderator loses patience and begins a shark attack on our okoles.

[CyberCity]

Having side topic conversations on related topics is part of what keeps C-D interesting. And, everyone having their own opinion, and exercising their own limits on how much research they want to do, is part of life-on-the-internet. I sometimes learn a lot through the side comments, such as, I did not even know there was a "clay pot rice cooker".

[mdand3boys]

Originally Posted by CyberCity

Having side topic conversations on related topics is part of what keeps C-D interesting. And, everyone having their own opinion, and exercising their own limits on how much research they want to do, is part of life-on-the-internet. I sometimes learn a lot through the side comments, such as, I did not even know there was a "clay pot rice cooker".

And you have EVERY RIGHT to have those opinions, in spite of others who believe that they always have the correct answer and that you should do as they say...

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by mdand3boys

And you have EVERY RIGHT to have those opinions, in spite of others who believe that they always have the correct answer and that you should do as they say...

Gee, I just recommended another poster follow your advice about cars. Was I wrong to do so?