Black & Decker Flavor Scenter HS900 8-Cup Rice Cooker

My wife and I just recently started the Nutrisystem diet that is when we noticed that we would be eating a lot of vegetables. We prefer steaming or vegetables over boiling them, the taste and juices stay in vegetables when you steam them. We have had this steamer for about two years now, and it has just sat under our kitchen sink not being used. When we first got this we would only use this on certain occasions, now that we are on this diet it sits out on top of the counter and we use it every day. When we first purchased this we thought it was such a novel approach to be able to steam several different types of vegetables all at once, but the newness wore off rather quickly. When this first came out it was $40, but I am sure that it is a lot cheaper now.

Description
There are six main parts to this steamer, and they are the cover with tabs, the Rice bowl, the steaming bowl, the dip tray, the base which will house the timer and a light, a flavor scenter screen, all of these fit neatly inside of each other. There are two basic colors on this whole unit, and that is the lid and the steaming bowl are clear and the base and the Rice bowl are white plastic. All of these parts are dishwasher safe, except for the base. You cannot submerge this in water. All of these parts are very light with the exception of the base, it has a little bit of weight, but overall the whole unit is not very heavy.

Features
There are several features that are unlike any that I have ever seen. First and foremost, there is a built in flavor scenter screen. This is where you can add certain kind of herbs and spices that will be absorbed during steaming into your vegetables for added taste. It has a very large bowl, that way you will be able to steam several different kinds of vegetables at once. This also has a divider that you can insert, to separate the different types of food you are steaming. This does an excellent job when you want to steam fish, you will not have to worry about it adding any extra fats or calories from the oils that you have to normally use to cook with. Plus, there is the addition of a 75 minute timer with an automatic shut off, along with a little LED light.

How to Use
This is very easy to learn how to use, all you have to do is fill the water reservoir with cold water all the way up to the appropriate line. Then insert the drip tray, at this time. It is best to add herbs and spices to the center, where the screen is at. Now you can place your food inside, and install the lid so that the handles all lined up over the bowl. You will know that these fit securely together when they snap in to the notches. Now it is time to put everything into the base and plug it in and set the timer for your desired cooking time and just like any other Rice cooker or steamer. When the time is up, you will hear a bell and the light will go out. This will tell you that the power is off, this also does this automatically so you do not have to worry about burning anything. You can do several different types of food with this unit, but you might have to use a couple of different steaming times, because each food has a different steam time to go by. Just remember, just because this is made of plastic and not metal the steam will cause it to get very hot.

Experience
Just to give you an idea of what can be put inside this, I will tell you what we have used in it, fresh vegetables of any kind and those include whole artichokes, asparagus, beans, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, potatoes, rutabagas, snow peas, spinach, squash, turnips, I am sure there are more but, this is just a few of the things that we have used it for. We have also put seafood such as clams, scallops, shrimp and fish fillets of several kinds from salmon, swordfish, and tuna. My wife is very ingenious when it comes to making different kinds of things for dinner. We have also put chicken, hot dogs, eggs, and apples into this steamer. And let us not forget that we also use rice and put flavoring into the center, this makes a very delicious tasting rice. Instead of having just regular old white rice, if you add a little bit of flavoring to it, it spices up your dinner. Depending on what you are steaming will depend on how much time it will take for you to have dinner all ready to go.

Cleaning
If you treat this just like any other appliance, you know that you cannot submerge the base in water, and that all you can do is use a damp cloth on the bottom. You can put all of the rest of these inside of a dishwasher. But I would recommend rinsing them off first, because a lot of times the dishwasher will not get all of the little particles out of the cracks and crevices of this unit. If you take care of this as soon as you are done with dinner it makes the job a lot easier.

Warranty
This comes with a one year full warranty from the original date of purchase. If something happens to this unit, they do recommend that you get a hold of Black & Decker instead of taking it back to the store, by calling their one 800 customer service number and that is 1-800-231-9786.

Conclusion
I would highly recommend this to anyone that likes to steam vegetables or just likes steaming their food in general. You will notice a big difference, because your food will taste a whole lot better this way. If you add enough herbs and spices to this you will definitely notice better tasting food. As soon as you start using this, you will also notice that there is a nice aroma in your kitchen. I do not think that you will have to worry about using the warranty, because as long as it does not get abused, it should last you for several years.