I'm considering making the giant leap to a serious rice cooker — after research, it seems like the Zojirushi is the way to go, even over the venerated Tiger — but I'm trying to parse out the dozens of models and various benefits.
It seems like the difference in price between a 5.5-cup model that does everything I could ever want, and a 5.5-cup model that does everything I could ever want with "fuzzy logic" is about $20. I'm already thinking about spending literally 10x more than I've ever spent on a rice cooker, so an extra $20 isn't the end of the world, but I'm wondering if it is really streets ahead when it comes to rice cooking, or if this is just a fancy-sounding name that doesn't add much to the process.
This is a bit informed by the fact that I'm kind of leery of fancy electronics in my kitchen gadgets; I loved my old Salton because it had one button, one spring, and one heating element, and I could kind of understand it. I'm a little afraid of the durability of a rice cooker with an onboard computer, and wondering if "fuzzy logic" is just adding another thing that can break onto that pile.
Best Answer
I just purchased a Zojirushi rice cooker a couple of months ago and can’t imagine cooking rice without it now.
Fuzzy logic in comparison to binary logic is a varying degree of a state. In binary logic an item is either true or false (on or off) but in fuzzy logic it can be in between, partially on or partially off. Instead of hard “done” state the fuzzy logic states may be “somewhat” or “nearly” done. This while cooking it could take on the meaning of” too hot”, “about right” or “not much change”. Where this comes into play in a rice cooker is when the sensor monitoring the water content reaches the critical point an ordinary cooker will just turn off the heater however, a fuzzy logic cooker will use an equation (usually derived from experimentation) to vary the temperature and optimize the amount water being absorbed and evaporated. Typically a fuzzy logic system will have multiple “critical” points and will vary the temperature during ramp up and down as well as during the cooking. Generally, different types of rice will absorb different amounts of water at different rates. The fuzzy logic circuitry will monitor the changes and adjust itself to accommodate the predetermined profile.
I guess you could say the benefit of a fuzzy logic cooker is that someone took the time to learn the complexities of the cooking process and characteristics of the rice then adapted the preparation process to match the “ideal” conditions for the perfect rice.