MICRO WAVE OVEN

Invention of Microwave Oven.

ACCIDENTAL USEFUL DISCOVERIES.

Like so many inventions, Microwaves were originally discovered accidentally. A scientist working with radio waves happen to place a piece of chocolate near the vacuum tube. When he observed the chocolate has completely melted, he realised that he had hit upon a revolutionary cooking technique totally unknown to mankind then. All this took place about five decades back around thirty years were spent in research before this discovery was used commercially for making microwave cooking ovens.

Microwave Oven.
With the popularity of Microwave Owens in the western world, food industries are going through a revolution. Entrepreneurs are busy designing new food products suitable for Microwave. Similarly, microwavable plastics, earthenware and stoneware kitchen utensils are coming in market. Certain food dishes would never have seen the light of day if microwave had not been discovered in the first place.

How Microwave works?
Microwaves are non-ionising waves that can be best described as “Electromagnetic Waves of about 10cm Wave-Length” resembling radio waves. However, these are entirely different from ionising gamma or x rays. The ionising rays disturb the molecules in food material by chopping away electrons while microwaves only make the molecules of water in the food to vibrate at a very high frequency i.e. 2450 million times per second. Microwaves are produced by the Magnetron which the most important part of his cooker and are showered on the food. This results in intermolecular friction that creates heat inside the material, cooking the food quickly. Since the heat is produced within the food, only food gets hot and not the surrounding air or utensils.

Safety First.
As soon as the door of the cooker is opened either intentionally or by your absent mindedness or by accident, the magnetron gets switched off automatically. Hence there is absolutely no way your body can get exposed to microwaves.

Power Saving Cooking Method without Any Doubt.
As compared to an electric oven, microwave works 20-25% level of energy consumption. When this cooker runs for a full one hour, it consumes three quarters of a unit of electricity.

Choice of Cooking Vessels.
Your regular metal utensils and melamines are no good for this modern cooking method. Instead, you can use wood or straw baskets, certain plastics, earthenware and stoneware, glass vessels, paper dishes, China clay mugs, saucers and plates. This is a small price you may pay for the great convenience you enjoy.

• Advantages:
• Being ‘Safer’ than electric and gas stoves, microwave cooker can easily be handled by school children, very old people and also by disabled.
• ‘Versatility’ is beyond comparison. It can thaw, heat, puff, boil, roast, steam and poach foods. It can simplify the precooking work by softening fats and butter, caramelizing sugar, dissolving jelly cubes, melting chocolates and reheating small quantities of liquids as when required. Reheating of food is a single greatest advantage. For families with irregular meal routine, it is a boon as the meals served on the plates can be quickly and efficiently reheated.
• Fuel Economy is great as microwave works at 20-25% energy level of electric ovens.
• Nutritious and thus healthier food is available to you when you adopt Microwave cooking.
• Vegetables can be cooked with less water and hence retain more of their nutrients, colour and flavour.
• ‘Time factor’ is in your favour with microwave. Most foods are cooked in container in which they are to be served. Secondly, food can be reheated on an eating plate thereby reducing the amount of washing up. With a well stocked freezer, a wide variety of meals can be prepared without much planning in advance.
• In Conventional Cooking practice, your kitchen heats up considerably; hence you require an exhaust fan. With microwave, hardly anything else but food gets heated up. Even the air in the cooker does not heat up, so naturally your kitchen remains clean, cool and without any smoke or smell.
• Mobility of cooking place is simply incomparable to any other cooking gadgets. Microwave Ovens are compact and mobile and can be positioned anywhere, like on a kitchen platform, dining table, working table in offices etc. Since you need only thirteen ampere plug and a socket outlet, they can be moved to other rooms other than the kitchen. In ‘star’ hotel rooms, this cooker can be kept along with the T.V and radio set as you can so easily warm up cookies, sandwiches, cutlets, pakodas and omelette served cold to you from distant hotel kitchens.
• Easy to clean and maintain since nothing much spills or splashes. Only a warm soapy cloth or sponge is good enough to make it look again from in and out.
• Disabled people, even the blind, find microwave cooking far easier and safer than conventional cooking.
  
• Disadvantages:
• Now, speaking about the drawbacks, it has only one i.e. you cannot carry out controlled heating of oil in microwave and hence should not try to make ‘tadka’ (or phodni) or fry purees, wadas and pakodas.
• Chappaties can be made but with some innovation. ‘Atta’ kneaded and kept in a refrigerator overnight is more suitable than freshly made one for Chappati baking in microwave oven. Stuffed brinjal or mushrooms, pulao, various halvas, bhartas can be cooked well.