this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2024
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Microwaving food. Too many people think that it's radiating the food. Its just making the water molecules in the food wiggle and heat up to warm the food through internal collisions.
I mean it is radiation, just like 5G signals, and y'know, light
That is true lol.
The heating effect is more due to standing waves rotating the (polar) water molecules in the food.
There aren't hot radiation particles moving into and staying in the food like a number of people believe.
Microwaves (and 5G) have much less energy than visible light, but its a scary sound word. People don't like to think that they are exposed to radiation 100% of the time.
Microwaves are ~2.4GHz, same as wifi. That is the resonant freq of water. They don't go deep, not even close to a milimeter. And it all converts to heat.
The sun is more damageing then microwaves of same power. And ionizing radiation is the really harmful one.
That was a weird time, when troubleshooting internet connection issues was like "Is anyone using the microwave or perhaps a cordless phone at the moment?" Lol
It's even the optimal way to cook some things, and people still avoid it.
Though I'd highlight that warming food up in a pan or pot on the stove is criminally underrated.
which food comes out better in a microwave?
Things with a lot of water evenly distributed. Potatoes, steamed vegetables, stuff like that. I've read it's good for making caramel too but haven't tried that one.
I recall it being great for sponge toffee, also fantastic for melting things like chocolate or other (non-culinary) stuff.
Oh melting chocolate, I need to try that next time. I'm always worried about burning the chocolate in the pot.
Everything I've seen says do it in 30s bursts and stir, apparently does a good job of melting it with breaking
I don't like it, but that's because it's usually the faster but inferior quality option, bread/bun gets hard, sometimes uneven heating, some things get slimy, etc. I opt for toaster oven or range/pot/pan over microwave 9/10 times just because I have the extra 10-20min and prefer the quality. Radiation (for me) has nothing to do with it.
That's a fair call and I'm the same, its not optimal for a lot reheating. I've met a fair few people who refuse to own or use a microwave because the don't want their food "irradiated" or think that it is somehow unhealthy.
"Honey, how long do you want your food to wiggle?"
they often called it nuking. took a good 15 years before mass acceptance. early ones had warnings about standing near with pacemakers could kill you.