Comparison test - 6 steam cookers

<p>Electric steam cookers, like the ones we have reviewed this time, are a very recent phenomenon in technological development. They have been available in most of the western world for about 30 years. <p></p> <p>The method of steam cooking behind them, however, is a much older one: it is now known that steam cooking was already one of the primary methods of cooking, i.e. virtually ubiquitous, in many parts of present-day China more than 7,000 years ago.</p> <p></p>. <p></p> <p>In those days, water was heated to boiling point over a fireplace so that the water could evaporate and the steam waft upwards - through the holes in the bottom of an oven above it, the food to be steamed was then cooked evenly.</p> <p></p> <p>There is no doubt that even today steam cooking can still be achieved in this way, for example by using a suitable rack (such as a bamboo basket) in the oven. The food to be steamed is then enclosed in the steam without touching the water in the meantime. <p></p> <p>However, this can be done much more simply and quickly with modern equipment: An electric steamer offers a number of advantages - above all, they are easy to use. We tested 6 of these increasingly popular kitchen utensils this time.