Zojirushi arrived from Amazon today! Since it’s a warehouse deal (used-like new), I immediately looked over it. On the surface it looks like it hadn’t been unpacked or was repacked really well. All the manuals were neatly piled on top. Styrofoam in place. Wires tied together.
Upon closer inspection, It has a small cosmetic dent on the outer stainless steel lid; if this was new and I wasn’t looking so closely for damage, I probably would have missed it. The inner removal stainless steel lid is pretty badly scratched up, as though it had lots of use. Not dirty though. Wondering if this is a refurb?
I checked the pot to see if there were any scratches. It looked good except there’s a slight off-black ring around the entire circumference of the pot. At first I thought it was used and it was a water line. But it was a perfect circle. I looked on the outside of the pot and noticed that it matched with the outer ring that’s part of the design. Could anyone wth the induction model confirm if the inside of the pot contains this ring? I’m just worried about the longevity of the nonstick, but if it’s part of the design, I’ll accept it.
Not sure if it’s worth reporting the scratches and dents to Amazon. They’ve been known to give me a further discount in the past. Like-new is supposed to be just a damaged box. But I don’t want to push my luck. Maybe I’ll see how it cooks first.
Speaking of which, I’m doing a basmati cookoff with the Zojirushi and my old rice cooker. I’ll see if I can tell the difference. I’ll have my Dad do a blind taste test later this evening.
The rice washing process described in the manual seems onerous. I usually just put the rice in a fine mesh strainer and rinse/swirl it around for 1-1.5 minutes under cold running water. I wonder if that’s sufficient? For the test, I followed the Zoji process.
