8 Facts About Induction Cooker That’ll Convince Gas Stove Users to Buy One Tomorrow

Last Updated on 2021-01-18 , 5:08 pm

Living on this sunny island only means one thing – we only get one season throughout our entire lives: summer.

Thanks (or rather not) to the rapid evolution of mankind, global warming is only here to make things worse.

In conclusion, it’s very much impossible to live without an aircon (aka the life-saver).

But just before we go and title this great cooling device as the best invention ever, I would like to divert your attention to an under-rated life-changing facility.

It’s the induction cooker I’m talking about.

While the majority of Singaporean households are still utilizing the ‘traditional’ gas cooker, there are increasing usage of the induction cooker over the past few years, especially for new households.

If you’re already curious as to just what this magical thing is, here we go.

1.History of induction cooking

While the term ‘induction cooker’ may seem quite foreign to some, the first patents actually date all the way back to the early 1900s! Crazy right? Where has it been all this while?

The first setup was first introduced to the public in the mid-1950s. It was conducted by placing a pot of water above a piece of newspaper between the stove and the pot.

While it successfully proved its convenience and safety, the cooker was never produced.

2.Where it came from

In the early 1970s, the conduction cooker was brought to attention again in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

After some research and development were done by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, it was introduced at a consumer products convention in Houston, Texas.

The corporation then went ahead to introduce their product into the market.

Slowly, but surely, companies picked up the technologies and continued to develop the induction cooker to become what it is today.

3.Cook your food faster

A huge selling point of induction cooker is the speed at which your food is cooked.

A ‘traditional’ gas stove passes heat to the pan via flames, but an induction cooktop directly passes the heat to the pan.

Okay, we’re gonna get a ‘lil scientific, please bear with me:

The electromagnetic activity will trigger that in the cookware, causing the cookware to heat itself up.

Hence, the cookware itself is the starting point of the heat.

Without having to pass through numerous obstacles, it will also take less time for the heat to actually travel to the food.

According to howstuffworks, induction cookers can cook your food faster by about 25-50% on average!

4.Energy efficient

Using the same explanation as above, it is also pretty obvious that an induction cooker is gonna save you tons of energy.

Instead of losing the heat through radiation from the flames,  most of the heat gets to the food, as heat is generated within the cookware itself.

Gone are the days where you struggle to pick up food from the metal rings!

Also, while you may feel that using fire is the fastest and most direct way to get your food cooked, data has shown that gas cooktops only successfully utilise 38% of their total energy to heat up your food.

The rest is indirectly used to heat up the surrounding, including the person cooking, which is you.

As if Singapore is not hot enough.

On the other hand, induction cooktops are able to use up to 90% of their electromagnetic energy to heat up your food.

At the end of the day, the result will be reflected in the form of lower electricity bills, which essentially means a healthier environment.

5.Safe

We have been taught from young to stay away from the kitchen cos that’s where the fire is.

The gas stove is also one of the major causes of fire breakout in apartments.

So there’s that: gas stove = fire = dangerous.

But it’s a different story with an induction cooktop.

Since the heat is generated within the cookware itself, the stove typically is not scalding hot. You’ll be less likely to end up in a hospital (touch wood) for touching the stove. But of course, we’re not saying that you should touch it lah.

On top of that, once you turn off the cooker, the cooktop reacts almost immediately and cools down.

Because of the above reasons, portable induction cookers have been a popular choice amongst college kids, even if the hostel provides a common gas stove.

They can easily cook in their dorm without having to queue in line.

6.Control

We all know that it only takes a turn of a dial to switch a gas stove off. But wouldn’t it be even better if you can set the temperature?

Controlling of temperature is one big problem for those who need low heat to cook certain food.

For example, when you’re trying to bake something and need melted chocolate, the recipe would tell you things like “melt chocolate at 45 degrees Celsius”.

What you’re gonna do if you use a gas stove is to stick a thermometer in and watch it slowly rise.

But with an induction cooktop, you can easily control the desired temperatures (in some models) and walk away to do your thing.

7. Easy to use

Unlike a gas stove, induction units are relatively thin in the vertical.

This is great news for people living in small apartments and has limited storage space. You can now utilise the space below the cooktop (since there’s no gas too).

The induction cooker is also a better choice for those who are wheelchair-bound. They can easily reach the cookware.

8. Easy to clean

Ahh… the horrors of cleaning a gas stove.

Oil has got to be a chef’s best and worst friend. If you’ve been diligently doing your chores, you would have found out that grease is kinda hard to wipe off the cooktop.

Other than that, burning gas would also mean that some byproducts are vaporized in the process. At the end of the day, your white tiles will also become black.

The protruding rings to grip your cookware are also a pain in the ass to clean.

So if you’re someone who hates cleaning your cooktop, an induction stove certainly makes the best choice.

All you need is to simply swipe across the flat surface with a wet cloth. Tadaah. And your white tiles remain white too!

Now… are you tempted to get one?

Featured Image: brizmaker / Shutterstock.com