Steam-cook food in a distiller

steaming

I have a counter-top water distiller which I have been using to make distilled water, and it's been working fine for this purpose. Recently, my artichoke plant has produced artichokes ready for harvest, and I had the idea I could use the distiller to steam-cook them.

The possible advantages I can think of are:

  1. Distiller would automatically shutoff when the water is boiled away.

  2. I could set the cooking time by how much water I put in.

  3. No steam escaping into the environment. (I live in a small room, and it gets damp in here too easily.)

  4. Producing distilled water at the same time.

However, the possible disadvantages I can think of are:

  1. Contaminants from the water might splash up and ruin the food.

  2. Difficulty finding a stand to keep the artichoke out of the water.

  3. The particles of artichoke might contaminate the steam, causing the distiller's charcoal filter or even the inside of its pipes to clog.

Anyone actually try this or know of probable problems I haven't thought of?

Here is the distiller I have: http://www.amazon.com/Water-Distiller-Countertop-Enamel-Collection/dp/B00026F9F8?ie=UTF8&ref_=cm_cd_al_qh_dp_i

Best Answer

I did it a few times and it worked great! My artichoke plant makes rather small artichokes, so I put one stem down in a teacup in the bottom of the distiller. I filled the distiller with 1-2 cups of water, estimating that would get me enough cooking time to cook that size artichoke. After it distilled that water and automatically shutoff, I waited until it was cool, opened it up, and found my nicely cooked artichoke. :)

For a larger artichoke I might try to find a metal stand of some sort and lay the artichoke on its side.

Yes, artichokes produce a smell when being steamed. Will this adversely affect the innards of the distiller? I'm no chemistry expert, but I kind of doubt it, hence my willingness to try this experiment. Probably it is a volatile gas, not a solid, that gets absorbed by the distiller's carbon filter with the rest of the volatile gases in the water. Solids should remain in the distiller's "tank" with the rest of the crud and scale that builds up like normal.

So in the end, if you're living by yourself in a small space, just want to steam one artichoke at a time, and don't want to waste space with a regular steam cooker, this seems like a good alternative. Plus, you get to keep humidity down and get clean drinking water to boot.

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