1. Induction cookers- its pros & cons
With the shortage of cooking gas in the country induction cookers have
become hugely popular. Cooks also prefer it because it cooks fast, almost
instantly, at high heat.
With induction cookers, the heat is supplied directly to the cooking vessel by
the magnetic field. Thus there is no wastage of heat being transferred
anywhere else. While with gas or conventional electric cookers, energy is first
converted to heat and then transferred to the cooking vessel. Here there is a
lot of waste of energy with the heat being transferred elsewhere, heating up
your kitchen. Induction cooking results in cooler kitchens as well as cool
stovetop too.
The safety factor of these cookers are high. The stove top barely get warm
hence there will be no burned hands or burnt food spills. It is even safe for
people in wheel chairs. You can test this out by turning the heat on your
induction cooker to ‘High’ and place your hand on it. Your hand will be intact,
even if there is non ferrous material like rings, bracelets etc. Gas cookers come
with their own inherent risks, leakage, explosions etc.
Induction cookers depend on good, clean energy- electricity, which is readily
available without expensive piping, reticulated systems or even cylinders.
The most famous ‘drawback’ for induction cooers is the cookware. These
cookers work only with magnetic materials. Stainless steel and cast iron are the
most commonly used as they conduct heat precisely and quickly. You may
need to invest in cookware to suit your new cooker. Significant quality of
ferrous cookware is not that very expensive and you can invest in it slowly,
starting with the essentials like frying pans and saucepans.
There is no radiation hazard as many have claimed. Many false claims of
hazards for cardiac embedded devices etc have been published but according
to real scientific data the induction cooker is safe.
There is no noise pollution either. This type of cooking is a noiseless process.
Some manufacturers add fans to circulate the heat, in that case there may be
some noise from the fan. Otherwise the induction process requires no noise at
all.
As far as energy costs go, a comparison with the gas cooker is relative. The cost
of cooking gas and electricity consumed are relative to one another.
2. The only negative is that the cooker does not work when electricity fails.
Over all, the induction cooker is a beneficial and good alternative to cooking
gas.
