To provide a rice cooker which prevents rice being kept warm from becoming sticky or whitened and is excellent in a warm keeping performance.
The rice cooker is provided with a main body 30, a pot 34 freely detachably housed in the main body 30, a steam valve 48 for tightly sealing the inside of the pot 14, a lid opening/closing detection means 51 for detecting the opening/closing state of the lid body 47, and a pump 44 for discharging air inside the pot to the outside of the main body. When the lid is opened and closed during warm keeping, the air inside the pot is discharged to the outside of the main body 30 by operating the pump 44, then, pressure inside the pot is effectively reduced to attain a deoxygenated state, consequently the breeding of aerobic bacteria which accelerate the staling of the rice is prevented, the yellowing of the rice and the generation of odor due to warm keeping are suppressed, and stickiness and whitening during the warm keeping are prevented.
SHINABE AKIHIRO
Hiroki Naito
Daisuke Nagano