When it comes to essential kitchen appliances, the microwave is one that people can hardly go a day without using. The microwave is convenient, incredibly useful, and almost always the quicker option. As useful as it is, some foods should not be placed in the microwave.
You might have heard that microwaves zap vegetables of vital nutrients by fighting nutrients. This may not be true. Microwaves preserve vitamins and minerals more than any other cooking method. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the US, there are certain foods you should never heat in the microwave.
1. Vegetables with green leaves
It is better to throw your vegetables away than to heat them in the microwave. This is because of the concentration of nitrates in the green leaves that become toxic when heated in a microwave.
2. Chicken
All types of poultry contain some level of salmonella infections. When you cook the chicken well, it will eliminate all the bacteria, but the microwave does not do this evenly. Chances are that contaminated parts will remain in the chicken after heating.
3. Uncooked rice
Uncooked rice contains spores of bacteria that can still survive microwave heating. Heating uncooked rice can lead to food poisoning because the spores multiply and can cause diarrhea and vomiting.
4. Processed meat
Processed meat contains preservatives and chemicals. Heating these substances in the microwave can be detrimental to our health.
Heating processed meat in a microwave causes the formation of oxidized cholesterol products. They are more harmful to the arteries.
5. Breast milk
Breast milk is best frozen but not heated in the microwave. Breastfeeding can create hot spots that cause severe burns to the baby’s throat or mouth.
6. Hard-boiled egg
When you heat a hard-boiled egg in the microwave, the moisture in it creates a build-up of steam until it reaches a stage of explosion. The egg will not burst inside the microwave during heating, which means the microwaved egg can burst on the plates, in the hands, or inside the mouth.
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