There is provided an apparatus (10) for processing food stuff. The apparatus (10) comprises a container (110) for receiving a food stuff; a food processing unit (120) for processing the food stuff in the container; a force sensor (130) for measuring an operation parameter, and a control unit (140) for operating the food processing unit (120) based on measurements received from the sensor. The sensor is furthermore configured to measure an interaction with the apparatus by a user. The control unit is configured to receive measurements of the user interaction from the sensor (130) and process the received measurements to determine if a predetermined user interaction or a predetermined user interaction pattern corresponding to a user input command has been performed by the user.

A heating system component for a heating system for heating a fluid medium is provided. The heating system component includes: a carrier unit comprising a wet side, wherein said wet side corresponds to a surface of said carrier unit configured to be in contact with said fluid medium; and a heating unit. The heating unit may be coupled to the carrier unit via soldering, laser welding, gluing, ultrasonic welding, and/or friction welding. The carrier unit may comprise aluminum.

Systems to allow temperature control more precise and accurate than the current state of the art for consumer products that heat liquids such as, without limitation, coffee makers, tea makers, electric kettles and espresso machines. One feature of such systems may include the ability to calibrate the system with reference to a known temperature point. Another feature of such system may allow reduction in the rate of water heating to allow the temperature of the water to approach a target temperature in a gradual manner.

An electric kettle includes a power supply base and a kettle main body. The kettle main body has a container, a heater provided on the container, a water amount sensor that detects the amount of water in the container, a water temperature sensor that detects the current temperature of the water in the container, and a first display part that displays information on the amount of water detected by the water amount sensor. The power supply base has a power supply cable to be connected to a utility power supply, an operation part that receives a user operation concerning the desired temperature of the water, a power supply circuit that generates a driving power for the heater from an electric power supplied from the utility power supply, and a second display part 46 that displays the current temperature and the desired temperature in a time division manner. The kettle main body includes a battery that drives the water amount sensor and the first display part when the kettle main body is separated from the power supply base.

A rice cooker assembly uses machine learning models to identify and classify different types of food stored. The rice cooker has a chamber including different compartments for storing different types of food. A camera is positioned to view an interior of the chamber. The camera captures images of the contents of the chamber. From the images, the machine learning model classifies the different types of food stored. The rice cooker determines a mixture of different types of food based on nutrition value and/or taste. The rice cooker creates the mixture and controls the cooking process accordingly. The one or more machine learning models may be resident in the rice cooker or it may be accessed via a network.

An actively heated or cooled food container can have a lid movable between an open and a closed position and an insulated body to which the lid can be attached. The insulated body can have a sidewall that defines a perimeter of the container body and a base, the sidewall and base defining one or more chambers that can be sealed by the lid. The food container can have a temperature control system that can include one or more heating or cooling elements in thermal communication with one or both of the sidewall and the base and operable to heat or cool one or both of the sidewall and the base to thereby heat or cool the one or more chambers in the food container.

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to utilizing a sonication probe. In some embodiments, there is provided a rice cooker utilizing a sonication probe to cook rice including a rice cooker housing; a pH sensor; a temperature sensor; a viscosity sensor; a sonication probe; and a control circuit configured to control an operation of the sonication probe that causes the sonication probe to stop emitting one or more sound waves to substantially halt breakdown of amylose of the rice based on a pH value, a temperature value, and a viscosity value associated with the rice.

Provided is a cooking appliance and a control method of the cooking appliance. The control method of the cooking appliance is applied to make a claypot rice. The cooking appliance includes a pot body and a heating component for heating raw materials placed in the pot body. A process of making the claypot rice includes a rice stewing stage, and the rice stewing stage at least includes a first rice stewing process and a second rice stewing process which are sequentially executed. The heat output per unit time by the heating component during the first rice stewing process is less than the heat output per unit time during the second rice stewing process.

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to utilizing a sonication probe. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for utilizing a sonication probe to cook rice including a housing; a pH sensor; a temperature sensor; a viscosity sensor; an ultrasonic generator; a memory; and a control circuit configured to: receive a desired shelf life value of one or more shelf life values; obtain a first predetermined combination of a plurality of different predetermined combinations corresponding to the desired shelf life value; control an operation of the ultrasonic generator; determine the pH value, the temperature value, and the viscosity value; determine whether each of the pH value, the temperature value, and the viscosity value are respectively within a corresponding threshold; and in response, cause the ultrasonic generator to stop emitting one or more sound waves to substantially halt breakdown of amylose of the rice.

A liquid heating appliance for making a beverage, the liquid heating appliance comprising: a plurality of heating components for heating a liquid, where at least a first of the plurality of heating components is powered using mains power, a power management system, wherein the power management system comprises: a controller, and an energy storage device, wherein the controller is arranged to control an amount of the mains power applied to the first of the plurality of heating components, and further arranged to control an amount of stored power from the energy storage device to be applied to at least a second of the plurality of heating components.