by The official name of my new beloved is the “Zojirushi 5-1/2-Cup Neuro Fuzzy Rice Cooker and Warmer” — but I call it my best friend forever!
If you want to eat healthy, you know brown rice is the best rice. It fills you up and it cleans you out. Brown rice can be tedious to cook and really messy to boil if you don’t have the right dedicated cooker on hand:
The Zojirushi is forgiving and kind. You can use too much water or not
enough water and the machine will compensate for your inability to read
the perfectly pre-measured fill lines printed on the Teflon-coated pot.
Cooking three cups of brown rice takes about 2 hours with this machine.
The beauty part is — when all the cooking and eating is done you can
save your leftover rice and warm it up the next day in the Zojirushi in
just a few minutes using the “Reheat” setting.
If you plan it right, you can cook all your rice for the week in one
big stew session and then just reheat what you eat each day. Reheated
rice in this machine tastes incredibly good!
This kind of convenience isn’t cheap. The Five Cup Zojirushi will run
you around $180.00 USD on the discount selling sites — but for those who crave and need brown rice, you quickly realize that money is well spent to bring home the little brown Gods inside you on a daily basis.
Here are some specs for you:
- 5-1/2-cup computerized rice cooker and warmer with advanced Neuro Fuzzy logic technology
- Multi-menu selections; automatic keep-warm, extended keep-warm, and reheat cycles
- Spherical, nonstick inner pan allows for spherical heating; LCD clock and timer; retractable cord
- 2 measuring cups, nonstick rice spoon/scooper, rice spoon holder, and recipes included
- Measures approximately 14 by 8 by 9 inches; 1-year limited warranty
The Zojirushi Brown Rice Cooker is killer — and you can cook white
rice, sweet rice, sushi rice, semi-brown rice and porridge as well if
you must – but the Zojirushi best slays those brown nuggets of gold for
you and happily presents them hot and sticky for the delicious eating.
Have you ever eaten brown rice? If yes, did you take to it right away
or did you have a period of adjustment? If not, why not?
David, Brown rice is definitely delish, but is it very popular? Can most people get it in restaurants?
That’s a good point, Anne, brown rice is not well known and it is not very popular. Most people have never tasted the nutty goodness of brown rice.
There are some Chinese restaurants on the East Coast that are beginning to offer the choice between traditional white rice and brown rice but you have to ask for it. Several years ago if you asked for “brown rice” you’d get white rice with soy sauce on it.
David, white rice is not as healthy as brown rice. Is that right?
Anne!
Yes! White rice is brown rice with all the fiber and nutrients stripped out of it to give it a neutral, bland, taste.
White rice becomes glue in your body after you eat it because it is really only starch — while brown rice cleans you out and fills you with vital nutrients and minerals.
I do like the nutty flavor of brown rice, David, and once you try brown rice and get used to the chunky taste you begin to enjoy how good it makes you feel.
Long grain brown rice is heavier and it fills you up longer than white rice, Anne. You quickly get energy and goodness from brown rice and you can eat it with every meal and lose weight while building muscle!
If the rice you cook in it is as good as the bread my breadmaker turns out it will be a godsend for rice lovers.
I like *wild rice* something I ought to eat more often.
The rice is incredible! Brown rice is notoriously hard to cook at home. With this machine you just add water and rice and come back in two hours to eat it all up. It will also keep your rice warm all day long if you wish.
Wild Rice is good too! I always loved rice but didn’t realize how terrible white rice is for you until I started reading about brown rice.
Rice has always been associated with curry over here (until recently) and I cannot eat curry – so it has not been a food I have eaten much of. Will do som experimentation!
Rice has always been associated with curry over here (until recently) and I cannot eat curry – so it has not been a food I have eaten much of. Will do som experimentation!
Oh, wow! That’s interesting how rice is seen as a specific cultural delight. Long grain brown rice is heavy and nutty and incredibly versatile and healthy.
What brand is your bread maker?
Oh, wow! That’s interesting how rice is seen as a specific cultural delight. Long grain brown rice is heavy and nutty and incredibly versatile and healthy.
What brand is your bread maker?
I have one of these and have been enjoying it. It’s the only thing I can cook!
Hi Matt!
Hey, that’s pretty cool you have a Zojirushi, too! They are terrific machines.
Brown rice is tough to cook by hand or with a cheap rice machine because you really have to pay attention to get it just right. With the Zojirushi, you set it up and let it do all the thinking.
The smell of nutty brown rice filling the house in an hour the machine starts makes you mad with hunger because it smells so good.
The hardest part of the whole deal was deciding to spend the money on the machine and do the rice right. It was the right decision all the way!
Hi Matt!
Hey, that’s pretty cool you have a Zojirushi, too! They are terrific machines.
Brown rice is tough to cook by hand or with a cheap rice machine because you really have to pay attention to get it just right. With the Zojirushi, you set it up and let it do all the thinking.
The smell of nutty brown rice filling the house in an hour the machine starts makes you mad with hunger because it smells so good.
The hardest part of the whole deal was deciding to spend the money on the machine and do the rice right. It was the right decision all the way!
Panasonic – it makes wonderful oatmeal granary bread that I love and I have now started experimenting with other seeds as well. Next stop is herb breads.
Panasonic – it makes wonderful oatmeal granary bread that I love and I have now started experimenting with other seeds as well. Next stop is herb breads.
Ooo! I love bread, Nicola! You’re making me hungry! Give me brown rice, potatoes and bread and I could live forever happy!
What all do you put in your bread maker and how long does it take from start to finish?
Ooo! I love bread, Nicola! You’re making me hungry! Give me brown rice, potatoes and bread and I could live forever happy!
What all do you put in your bread maker and how long does it take from start to finish?
If I cheat and use a mix it takes between one and two hours – if I make from scratch it takes between four and six hours. I does have a very useful delay timer on it which means we can wake up to fresh bread.
If I make from scratch – a flour mix, water, a knob of butter and a pinch of salt – can sometimes add a little milk powder too – throw it all in and BINGO !
You can also use it to make french bread, pizza dough and croissants.
If I cheat and use a mix it takes between one and two hours – if I make from scratch it takes between four and six hours. I does have a very useful delay timer on it which means we can wake up to fresh bread.
If I make from scratch – a flour mix, water, a knob of butter and a pinch of salt – can sometimes add a little milk powder too – throw it all in and BINGO !
You can also use it to make french bread, pizza dough and croissants.
Nicola!
I love cheats! Where do you find the “bread mixes?” Are they in stores or do you have to special order?
Why does a mix take so much less time than scratch?
Does your machine do sourdough?
Everything we have here has a timer and I’m always scared to use any of them for fear the devices will turn on at the wrong time overnight and heat up too much and burn us up alive!
The oatmeal granary is a Hovis Bread mix – most supermarkets stock it. We are now starting to get specialist mixes to order.
The mixes have the yeast already blended in – as opposed to making from scratch where you add it yourself. ( That neads to be added to the ingredients into my last post I have just realised )
I can make sourdough, soda bread fruit breads as well.
The Panasonic has an alarm when it is ready which beeps for a minute and then turns itself and the machine off. We usually time it to finish just as we wake up so we can switch it of and extract it out for cooling for when we are ready to eat – ie after the first cup of tea.
The oatmeal granary is a Hovis Bread mix – most supermarkets stock it. We are now starting to get specialist mixes to order.
The mixes have the yeast already blended in – as opposed to making from scratch where you add it yourself. ( That neads to be added to the ingredients into my last post I have just realised )
I can make sourdough, soda bread fruit breads as well.
The Panasonic has an alarm when it is ready which beeps for a minute and then turns itself and the machine off. We usually time it to finish just as we wake up so we can switch it of and extract it out for cooling for when we are ready to eat – ie after the first cup of tea.
Thanks for all that great detail, Nicola! This is something we’re definitely going to have to try!
Thanks for all that great detail, Nicola! This is something we’re definitely going to have to try!
Well you know they say Once you go brown, you’ll never turn it down.
Well, maybe they don’t. I just sort of made it up.
I use the Black & Decker vegetable / rice steamer. I got it as a gift but I have seen it in stores for less than thirty dollars. It doesn’t have the awesome computational features that make up for too much water and doesn’t reheat your rice but I find it to be quite easy to use.
Can you make millet / quinoa in yours? It looks quite awesome.
Well you know they say Once you go brown, you’ll never turn it down.
Well, maybe they don’t. I just sort of made it up.
I use the Black & Decker vegetable / rice steamer. I got it as a gift but I have seen it in stores for less than thirty dollars. It doesn’t have the awesome computational features that make up for too much water and doesn’t reheat your rice but I find it to be quite easy to use.
Can you make millet / quinoa in yours? It looks quite awesome.
Gordon —
I have had many $30 steam cookers for rice and veggies and they are incomprehensibly messy when you use them to cook rice on a regular basis. The rice burns. The pot gets dented. The pot boils over. A sticky mess!
The Zojirushi is self-contained. You close the lid and forget about it. Divine! Clean up is basically wipe down the cooking pot with a wet paper towel when you’re done.
Yes, the Zojirushi will make porridge and whatever else you like. Just tell the computer what you’re putting in and the machine remedies the solution for you.
I like to own one this brown rice cooker. How do I order one? How much?
Please respond asap. Thanks.