Your kitchen needs many appliances. Most of the appliances are essential in cooking. A Pressure cooker is one of the devices most homes have. The device has proved to be effective in cooking food faster compared to other cooking devices. Every device comes with its advantages as well as disadvantages. Benefits of any cooking device are weighed depending on the quality of food, cooking time and energy consumption. Let’s focus on a pressure cooker. Is it healthy to cook in a pressure cooker? The answer is simply yes. Below is a detailed discussion of how a pressure cooker works and some of its benefits.
How does a pressure cooker work?
In early days, pressure cookers were considered dangerous as most of them never had safety features. The new models of the pressures cooker such as Fagor series have come with advanced features that ensure cooking is safe and fast. Pressure cookers work by simply increasing pressure in the cooking pot, lowering the boiling point of water. This ensures that water doesn’t evaporate faster enabling food to cook more quickly. This is the technique that pressure cookers use.
After knowing how it operates, lets now look at the benefits of using a pressure cooker. The following are some of the benefits of using a pressure cooker including health-related ones;
Foods retain most of the nutrients as well as taste
A pressure cooker reduces cooking time by almost 70%. It uses less water, and as a result of cooking time reduction, the food retains much of the nutrients that are lost when one cooks food for a long time using other cooking devices. Beta-carotene and vitamin C in spinach and other foods are retained when one uses a pressure cooker. Some of the vitamins are lost when food is cooked at high temperatures using frying pans and deep fryers.
Food prepared using a pressure have less health-harming compounds
When food is cooked at high temperatures, some reactions take place leading to the formation of harmful compounds such as acrylamide. When it comes to grains and legumes, a pressure cooker can reduce levels of lectins and phytic acid which prevent mineral digestion. These compound attach themselves to minerals making them indigestible. With a pressures cooker, this challenge can be eliminated.
Foods from pressure cookers are highly digestible
The combination of steam and high pressure in the cooking process can make tough foods tender and succulent. Tenderness is essential in making food more digestible in our bodies. Research has shown that pressure cookers have been found to boost digestibility of all kinds of foods specifically legumes.
Saves time and it is economical
By reducing coking time by almost 70%, pressure cookers save time. You just need a few minutes to prepare meals which can take even one hour to prepare using a stove. By slashing the cooking time, less energy is used making sure you save something on your energy bills.
Final Words
A pressure cooker is an essential kitchen appliance you need in your home. It cooks foods faster. On top of that, foods from pressure cookers are rich in nutrients that can be lost when other cooking devices are used. For those people asking if it is healthy to cook in a pressure cooker, the answer is yes.
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