Broski757—January 21, 2014
I initially purchased the VitaClay because I was looking for a ricecooker without a metal / teflon-coated cooking vessel. This slow cooker's pot / vessel is made of unglazed clay. It gets your food hotter in quicker time than traditional slow cookers with glazed vessels. Cuts cook time in half. As far as rice cooking, I mean, it cooks every variety of rice perfectly, supposing you can figure out how much water to pour in. It cooks cous cous, as well as beans, lentils, etc.. I have not used it to make yogurt yet, but it has a yogurt making function. The timer and delay start function work well. The vessel cleans like a breeze; it takes less than two minutes to thoroughly clean and dry both vessel and lid. I purchased a silicone steam basket that fits perfectly in the pot; the lid covers and top closes even with the basket, so I can steam veggies or proteins while cooking rice. It also allows use of the unit as a steamer; it isn't really a fast steamer, but it isn't what it was made for. I am a 25 year old dude, and I use this thing pretty much every day. You can set it in the morning to have steel cut oats and fruit ready for breakfast; you can have steamed rice and veggies waiting hot and warm at day's end. Also, you can buy extra clay pots and lids for approximately 25 dollars from the company; so, real easy to have something made in the fridge and then throw it in the unit, especially given the quick cook times. I have had my unit for 5 months, and I think I'm vitaclay's best spokesperson because I tell all my friend and family about this thing. The Bad? Well, the first unit I received through my amazon order had a defunct clock and timer; it would flash an error signal that pretty much meant it was busted. Amazon returns are quick and easy though, and I have had my second unit for almost six months. It sees heavy use. My last critique relates to the zisha clay from which it is made. The stuff comes from China, which sounds cool, but China is home to some serious pollution, and who knows whats in the groundwater over there (hey, we don't know here in the States either). So, I was initially attracted to the Vitaclay because I wanted to avoid marginal worries about teflon and aluminum toxicity. Why trade de minimis worry for a pot made of clay from a heavily polluted place? For its part, Vitaclay says it batch tests everything for lead and other harmfuls in accord w/ certain import regulations/standards. It is all well-documented on their website. Really though, the health question comes down to a bit of faith I think; hope this clay is safe. And, I want the clay to be safe because this is the best dang kitchen appliance I have ever owned. I am about to buy one for my mom, and I'm going to buy myself an extra pot and lid. Read more
Irina Zlatkina—February 20, 2009
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 ) Read more
