First of all I will give a brief run down of rice cooker manufacturers and who makes the best machines. Then I want to focus on one particular model. The reason for this is that as I discussed above, I think that the Zojirushi NP-HBC10 offers households something very special when it comes to cooking rice.

It is the Japanese brands that produce the best rice cookers in the world today. This is very hard, if not impossible, to dispute. We all know just how popular rice is in the Far East. Combined with this is the world famous Japanese electronics industry. Therefore it is no surprise that they have invented some particular technologies that allow their machines to produce superior rice.

The biggest advance has been the introduction of Micom components to these devices. What this has done is change the rice cooker from an electrical appliance into an electronic one. This is simply a higher technology version. The way that Micom works is much more sophisticated than simply an on/off function of more basic models. This is because they are able to actually control the way that the machine works. Micom is in charge of the actual temperature that the rice is cooked at as well as the duration of the cooking process itself. This is why machines such as the NP-HBC10 from Zojirushi are worth every penny.

To begin with, it is a good idea to read a range of product reviews so that you get a feel for the sort of prices and features of the various machines on offer. These days it is now possible to purchase a range of Japanese rice cookers made by companies such as Zojirushi, Sanyo and Panasonic as well as those made by Western producers such as Aroma, Black & Decker, Cusinart and Krups. If I am being perfectly honest, the best rice cookers are made by the Japanese. They have a world beating electronics industry and they love eating rice. When we combine these two factors, it is no surprise that they make the best machines.

A good place to start your price comparison is on the Amazon website. This online store is well known for having some of the lowest prices, a safe and secure ordering system and they also deliver promptly. So this would be your best online option. Their range of products is also very large. Perhaps though you would rather get to see the Zojirushi NP-HBC10 in a store before you commit to buying it. This is a good idea because you can see how big it is and if you like the look of it.

The Zojirushi NP-HBC10 is, as I mentioned above, a top of the range product. It is a Micom rice cooker that uses Zojirushi’s Induction Heating system. Once you try rice from a machine such as this, you will understand just why Zojirushi has such a good reputation for making kitchen appliances.

Choosing to buy a Zojirushi NP-HBC10 is a great option if you can afford it. This is a 5 1/2 cup rice cooker so is the perfect size for most families. If you have an especially large group of people to cook for then you may want to consider the NP-HBC18 machine instead. This is the larger model in the same range and can produce enough rice to feed eighteen hungry family members.

There are a host of decent features that this rice cooker has. First of all, it is a Micom kitchen appliance as you would expect. This is really the base level of rice cooker that you want to go for. Admittedly they are not the cheapest machines on the market but they are the ones that make the best tasting rice. The NP-HBC10 though has more than just Micom functionality. It uses Zojirushi’s new Induction Heating system. This is only found on their most advanced devices. Other machines that have it included the Zojirushi NP-GBC05 and the NP-HTC10. The way it works is to create a magnetic field when the power is turned on. This magnetizes the inner cooking bowl making it instantly hot. So the cooking bowl in actual fact ends up being the heat source within the rice cooker. This means that every time you cook rice it will come out tasting great.

The main reason that it is so expensive is that it features Zojirushi’s Induction Heating System. This method of heating does not use a heating coil like typical electrical units. Instead it makes use of a magnetic field which turns the metallic inner cooking bowl into the actual heat source within the rice cooker. This helps to make the best textured and tasting rice possible.

If you buy a Zojirushi NP-HBC10 you get a kitchen appliance that both looks great and is very functional. It can cook a wide range of dishes. For example it can of course make white and brown rice. It also has a setting to make GABA brown rice. This is not a special grain but rather a way of cooking regular brown rice to make it release more of its nutrients as well as make it softer and easier to digest. The machine can also be used to make a wide variety of mixed rice dishes such as jambalaya.

One of the features I love about the current crop of Zojirushi rice cookers is that they have a removable inner lid. This makes it so easy to get your rice cooker 100% clean after use. This is just one of the many reasons that makes purchasing a Zojirushi NP-HBC10 such a good investment.

The high price of this model may be off putting to some. At well over $200 it is not going to be for everyone. But the benefit of a machine of this quality is that it can make great tasting rice and may well encourage you to cook more rice based dishes. This can over the course of a year or so actually save you quite a bit of money on your food shopping bill so this is certainly one way to justify the purchase of this expensive kitchen appliance.

3 cup rice cookers are aimed at people living alone as well as couples. They can be used by small families too but this means filling the machines to capacity and may end up limiting your options. In the same way that getting too large a machine is not so good, too small a rice cooker is no good either. The size up from the NP-GBC05 is the NP-HBC10. The difference in cost is negligable. In fact, size of rice cooker contributes very little to differences in price. It is the features that the machines contain that is of far more relevance.

There is also a 10 cup version called the NP-HBC18 which has the capacity to cook up to 10 cups of un-cooked rice.