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| | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review: ( 31 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
77 of 81 found the following review helpful:
 I love this rice cooker! Dec 14, 2008
By Dave
I could not be more pleased with the VitaClay rice cooker! It is everything I hoped it would be.
I probably invested about $1000 of my time researching rice cookers before making this purchase. I was very concerned about the VitaClay due to prior reviews I read here. I called VitaClay's manufacturer twice and I also did research at a lot of other sites. Ultimately, I decided to take a chance on the VitaClay, but I also planned to order a purely stainless steel model too.
However, now that I have used the VitaClay for a week (cooking with it every day), I know this is the rice cooker for me. I do not need to look any further.
It cooks perfect brown rice. I have also cooked rice + mung dal in it many times. The food doesn't stick to the clay pot. The flavors are great.
I am satisfied that the quality of the clay pot is good. It passes California's tough regulations. These days I hesitate to purchase anything from China, but I'm comfortable that this product is safe.
The rice cooker does not give off any unusual smells. My concerns about potential toxic materials in the cooker have disappeared after inspecting and using it. The construction quality is very high. It is super easy to clean. The controls are easy to use. The design looks nice. I feel I got a lot of value for my money.
UPDATE:
I have had my VitaClay rice cooker for almost two years now. i like it more than ever. It has held up well. It still looks like new even though I use it almost every day. I have had zero problems with it.
BTW, the heating element does not come into contact with the food. The heating element is outside of the clay pot. The food only touches the clay. And, at the time I purchased mine, the owner of the company told me they do not use a non-stick coating on the heating element.
Is there a better and safer rice cooker on the market anywhere? I have not found one. I think the VitaClay rice cookers are the best available - and the price is incredibly low too. If I ever find myself in a position to give a rice cooker as a gift, I will only give a VitaClay. And I will not cook with anything else myself.
41 of 41 found the following review helpful:
Really nice multi-cooker PLUS: yogurt and yogurt cheese maker (see update) Feb 20, 2009
By Anatoliy Ryaboshapko
"Dragonfly"
I was a little concerned because of some of the reviews on other VitaClay products, but decided to give it a try anyway. I really liked an idea of having a clay pot in the multi-cooker. Well, I have no regrets whatsoever that I gave it a chance. I love the delayed start option, with three toddlers it makes breakfasts much easier with hot cereal being ready by the time everybody gets out of their beds. Yesterday I've cooked enough cereal for two mornings and all I had to do today is to add milk ind put it for 30 sec in the micro, while last night I braised some fresh turkey, added diced veggies and whole grain pasta, and put the pot in the fridge. This afternoon I simply added some water and put it in the cooker for 30 minutes and the lunch was ready. It's great! The taste is great, I don't have to think about it wile it's cooking, I didn't notice any aluminum on the bottom of the pot, as one of the reviewers mentioned, and another one said that she was concerned about the steam condensing on the aluminum cover and then going back to the food through the wholes in the clay lid - I've found an easy solution, I simply put a terry washcloth on top of the clay pot lid and it absorbs all of the moisture from steam.
Some mentioned that it cooks too fast for the slow cooker. I think I will agree, but I never liked the food from the slow cooker anyway, so if you're looking for the slow cooker, just go for the traditional crock pot.
All in all I really recommend it so far to anybody, who wants to save time in the kitchen.
UPDATE 8/8/2009
You've got to be really careful with pouring cool water over the hot pot. Of course it's a common sense, but sometimes things happen. My pot had cracked and I needed to order a replacement pot and it turned out to be a not an easy task. Only 3 places on the internet ship these pots, but one has a 1 star review from a previous buyer for not shipping their orders, another one promises free shipping with no minimum orders and immediately tries to charge you $11 for shipping and the last one is the manufacturer's site [...] which charges you $20 for the shipping (the cost of the pot is around $25). It is also important that you order the right pot, because different models use different pots and the only place to find that out is [...] were you have to download the Excell file in order to find out the model number of the pot you need. I did place an order with the manufacturer after all.
UPDATE 5/15/2010
I recently had a wonderful experience with making yogurt and cheese using this multi-cooker. Using the termometer I heated the milk, using the reheat cycle to 180F, turned it off and let the milk cool to 115F (thermometer similar to this one, it will beep once the desired temperature is reached Polder THM-360 Dual Probe Cooking Thermometer, Black), than just added some plain yogurt as starter, I used greek yogurt, replaced the clay lid, placed a terry cloth on top of it and locked the top cover of the multi-cooker. It was turned off but kept the temperature beautifully for long enough to let the yogurt cultures work the milk into a great, thick yogurt. Last night I used half milk and half yogurt, just used reheat cycle again until the milk curdled (7-10 min), let it cool and strained it overnight in the yogurt strainer Cuisipro Donvier Yogurt Cheese Maker. This morning we've had beautiful crepes filled with creamy yogurt cheese, mixed with some vanilla bean paste, rasins and a little sugar. I love this cooker even more now )
128 of 154 found the following review helpful:
 DO NOT BUY Mar 06, 2009
By Ron Jennings
I purchased a VitaClay cooker to avoid the non-stick surfaces present in most other cookers. Non-stick surfaces emit fumes called PTFEs that are believed to be harmful to humans (and pets). When I lifted the clay pot out of the machine - guess what the heating element was made from - yes - a non-stick, Teflon-like surface - despite the product being marketed as `teflon free'.
Michelle Liu the owner of Essenergy (the California based company that invented the cookers - they are manufactured by third parties in China) confirmed it was indeed non-stick but told me that a new version was coming out in about a month that used a different coating.
Based on this, I sent the cooker back at my expense with a promise from Michelle that I would receive a new unit and a shipping credit. It's now going on over SEVEN MONTHS and I have no cooker and have not been able to get my money back. She has had one excuse after another from "it is undergoing testing" to "shipping from China is delayed due to a slowing economy". In my opinion, this is not a company or product that can be trusted.
Other questions that need to be addressed:
For the new heating element, what is the new coating composed of? Has it undergone safety testing? Could it be even worse than the prior coating from a safety perspective?
Clay is a very porous substance that will be in very intimate contact with your food. Is it really Zisha clay? According to whom? Why does some marketing state "no ADDED lead" - is there naturally occurring lead in the clay? Has it been tested for other substances such as cadmium, pesticide run-off, other heavy metals? Is it 100% Zisha clay or might there be other clays/adulterants added?
Because I've found Essenergy so untrustworthy, I would need to see notarized documents from recognized labs and testing agencies that answer these crucial questions before I would even consider purchasing. I've found this company to be one that cuts corners and does not operate above board.
This could be an excellent product, but only if there is assurance as to quality and safety. With the recent questionable practices that have occurred in manufacturing in China this seems even more important.
35 of 44 found the following review helpful:
 VitaClay and Heavy Metal Toxicity. Jan 19, 2010
By KS
"KS"
Well, I've got the Vitaclay and it works fine. I like the fact that it uses very little water compared to other cookers, which makes this particular size able to cook portions bigger than you think. I think the reason people are willing to spend this much for a rice cooker like Vitaclay is because it is made out of clay, not Teflon, aluminum, or even stainless steel. Maybe the company should put more emphasis in this health aspect when it comes to market this product. Any type of notarized or certified data about the clay chemical composition or the level of heavy metals in its components would help put Vitaclay more in line with its costumers.
Having said that, don't get too carried away. For the ones that think that stainless steel is better, think again. In addition to iron, carbon, and chromium, modern stainless steel may also contain other highly toxic heavy metals, such as nickel, niobium, molybdenum, and titanium. Anything cooked in a regular stainless steel pot will pick up tiny amounts of these heavy metals. Even your stainless steel forks and spoons will "poison" your food by contact. This clay is a step up from even stainless steel, no question about it.
If you ever intend to cook anything in this cooker that is not organically grown, or vegan, you should probably stop obsessing about the product's potential toxicity based on a negative review . Non organic produce will contain more pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, hormones, air pollution, and water pollution than this product will ever be able to "leech" back into your food. In fact, non organic produce may very well end up "poisoning" your pot, ironically.
Moreover, if you use a commercial antibacterial soap product to clean the clay pot after cooking, for example, you should know that these kind of soaps are made with a potent nerve chemical similar to agent orange. The typical dish washing detergent contains undisclosed dangerous chemicals and toxic fragrance compounds that will get absorbed by your clay pot, creating a thin cancer-causing layer that will leach into your food.
Here is a snipped of a review I found elsewhere about this product that helped me put things in perspective: "I filled the clay pot with pure water from my RO/DI system and let it sit for 24 hours. After that I put the cooker on for four hours then let it sit on the warm setting for another 20. I took samples of the water to my municipal water testing facility and they have assured me that I have 0.1ug/L of lead. The acceptable level for drinking water is 10ug/L. So after 48 hours - including 4 hours of cooking and 20 hours of warming - it is safe to say that there is no more than one percent of the accepted level of lead (Pb) in the water." [...]
I guess you can do your own testing, which makes me wonder why this company didn't do something like that.
7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Assurance No Nonstick worries! and has done all it's asked to do! Apr 23, 2010
By G. Likong
"Koa Hana Lima"
We've had ours going on 3 years, and has not let us down..and we use it at least 4 times a week. I do want to get an extra pot since it is clay and could break! But more so that we have a separate pot for non-rice items like stew etc.
But using it for both hasn't and seem to be a problem. it also does a great job and slow braise stews etc...Easy to do classic Chinese Claypot meals..one pot convenience. I highly recommend it!
If you are worried about teflon-type coatings that most rice cookers have, then this is definitely the way to go. I also feel the clay retains heat and yields a better finished rice in the end. We've done everything from Thai sticky rice to Mexican rice..sushi rice is very moist but not wet. Even rice pudding.
There seemed to be a little tweeking to get the water just right...but this is a small thing. Of course it is clay so the lid gets hot..so remember be careful! Also water tends to condensate during cooking so towel off the lid and just behind the clay pot. Other than this the programming features are great and the cooker hasn't disappointed!
See all 31 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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