National & Panasonic Rice Cookers
National Rice Cookers and Panasonic Rice Cookers are both made by the same company, Matsushita of Japan, the brand names appearing to be interchangeable between their different models depending on where they are manufactured and the branding policy of the parent company for a particular region.
What ever they call themselves, National Panasonic have been making automatic electric rice cookers for over 40 years and if you surf through some of the cooking forums it's not uncommon to hear of 20 year and older Panasonic or National rice cookers still going strong.
National Rice Cookers
The National Rice Cooker brand line up currently runs to 22 models, mostly concentrated on the newer technology models with induction heating, Fuzzy logic and electronic control and on the jumbo size rice cookers.
One of the best selling National rice cookers is the SR LA10N, a 5 cup model with Fuzzy logic temperature control for white and brown rice and porridge. It also features a slow cook setting, 12 hour keep warm function, a steamer plate, non stick pan and an automatic retractable power cord.
Sure to be a hit in the coming years is the latest technology to hit rice cookers, induction heating. The rice is cooked more uniformly and a lot quicker by a changing electromagnetic field rather than the application of direct heat. National rice cookers SR IHZC10N and SR IHZC18N incorporate this new technology as well as most of the features of the Fuzzy logic models.
At the no frills end of the range the SR W10NA National rice cooker is a popular model for cooking plain white rice and steaming vegetables, fish and chicken. Features include non stick pan, keep warm function, auto cook, glass lid and detachable cord.
Panasonic Rice Cookers
The Panasonic Rice Cooker brand concentrates on traditional electric rice cookers. If you do not require all the bells and whistles that come with newer generation rice cookers but just need something reliable for white rice and steam cooking, a Panasonic rice cooker may be just what you are looking for.
Panasonic rice cookers come in various popular sizes, 3 cup, 5 cup, 8 cup and 10 cup. Be warned, some models are very basic, just a cooker in fact, without a warming function or non stick pan. Choose the cup size you are interested in and use the model numbers with your favorite search engine or shopping web site to find exact specifications.
- 3 cup rice cooker
SR W06 PA
SR WO6 PC
- 5 cup rice cooker
SR W10 SXP
- 8 cup rice cooker
SR W15 PC
SR SH15 PS
SR SH15 PW
- 10 cup rice cooker
SR W18 HSXP
SR W18 FSXP
SR W18 PA
SR W18 PB
SR W18 PB-S
Rice Cooker tip
Brown rice takes longer to cook than white rice because the bran that has not been milled off brown rice slows down the rate of water absorption. The bran of course contain many extra vitamins,minerals and fiber.
Brown rice has a shorter shelf life than white rice of about 6 months. After that the bran coating may start to go rancid.
