Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We cook rice and grains frequently, as do many Asian-Americans. We have used plastic-bowl microwave vessels, aluminum & teflon pots, steam pressure cookers and several others over the past five plus decades. They all work, but each has a down side. For instance wait till your visitors or grand kids hear the hissing monster of a pressure cooker. We feared aluminum toxicity, teflon ingestion, plastic leaching and plain uncertainty of what new epidemiologic research will unleash on us tomorrow. My wife and I have conveniently labeled our failing intellects as chronic "rice-in" toxicity. Forget age, it must be all that peeling cooking pot and rice! The stainless steel Miracle is a reasonable answer, unless we find out in some distant future that stainless steel is also a hazard. Probably not. This cooker performs well and passes muster readily with us. We have not noted any spills or crusty rice paste sticking to the bottom. We do have the advantage of having cooked rice and grains for many years. But this is an easy skill to acquire if you learn to vary the amount of water used to suit the type of rice or grain. Don't lose heart too soon. The pot washes easily if you soak it in water for a few hours -- and better still leave it overnight for your spouse to take care of tomorrow! A vege tray comes with the cooker. It steams beans, peas and carrots well and to a ready-to-eat tender state. I agree that a price of some $50.00 would have been better, but the convenience and safety are worth the added whimper while you pay the price. You could shop around and may be able to find a slightly lower price. And don't blow the savings on pricey coffee. IT HAS BEEN 4+ YEARS since my initial review. I am grateful for the kind and helpful comments from all of you. My technical articles never reach this level of positive acceptance. Alas. I still cook rice, and occasionally pearl barley, quinoa, amaranth or lentils. Except for quinoa and amaranth, the others do stick a bit at the bottom. There is some spillage also, and the cooking times vary from 30 to 50 minutes. Much depends on the amount of water added. Sometimes the lights do not go off, and therefore, I check the contents and manually flip the switch off. The bottom line (excuse the cheap pun) is that this cooker is suited ideally for rice cooking and vegetable steaming. My experiments with other grains and lentils are just a mix of curiosity and a periodic excess of time at hand. I do clean up the mess: my mess and my responsibility, cautions my other half. By the way, if you are blessed with almost daily sun light, then try solar ovens. I switched 75% of my cooking to solar heat finally this year. Oh, what a delightful culinary conversion!