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Some of the more expensive rice cookers advertise that they use pressure in combination with induction to cook rice. On one Japanese website that sells rice cookers, they showed some diagrams that I couldn't follow since they were in Japanese, however, the images seemed to indicate that the water is changed in some way (maybe taste) because of the pressure cooker.

The rice cookers that include a pressure cooker cooking method are also more expensive. So, what exactly is the purpose of this pressure cooker method?

Thanks!

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The usual purpose of pressure in pressure cookers is that they can heat water to >100°C without it starting to boil, thereby reducing cooking time.

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  • Mine takes 50 minutes for white rice and it is brand new. How much will it reduce cooking time? A lot, a little?
    – O.O
    Mar 15, 2011 at 16:06
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    I'd say that depends on several factors, mostly on what rice you use and what pressure the cooker generates. A quick websearch has pointed me to missvickie.com/howto/grains/rice-cooking.htm, it seems the reduction can be quite drastic... 4-8 minutes for white rice!
    – adebaumann
    Mar 15, 2011 at 16:15
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    I think the 4-8 minute time is more likely for rice that has been processed to cook normally in the 10-20 minute range; pressure cookers don't typically reduce cooking times by more than a factor of two, or three at most. So I would expect that you could cook your white rice that takes 50 minutes now, in 20-30 minutes in a pressure cooker.
    – Erik P.
    Mar 15, 2011 at 16:29
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    @subt13: 50 minutes for white rice? It takes 15-20 minutes on the stove. Are you referring to brown rice, which normally takes about 50 mins?
    – Martha F.
    Mar 15, 2011 at 18:04
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    The main effect of the pressure is not to prevent the water from boiling, but to raise the temperature at which it boils.
    – adebaumann
    Apr 11, 2011 at 12:20

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