In terms of unspoken rules about shared spaces, never reheating fish in the microwave
is right up there with never stealing your coworkers' lunch. But the issue isn't so
much about fishy aromas wafting through the office as it is about your health and
taste buds. Fish is a delicate food, and using a microwave to reheat
will only dry it out. Fortunately, fish can also be enjoyed when eaten cold,
or if you insist on heating it up, you can use a pan or the oven so that you can still get your
dose of all the good fats without risk of losing its delicate textures during the cooking process.
How you store and handle your seafood is another crucial element of enjoying it
and preserving its nutritional content. For instance, it's always a good idea to separate
raw seafood from other ready-to-eat foods in order to prevent the spread of bacteria.
It's also important to store it in temperatures below 40 degrees Fahrenheit as soon as you've
purchased it, and always prepare it thoroughly to avoid foodborne illness.
"I wonder where that fish has gone."
There are plenty of people who like to challenge themselves to eat increasingly
hotter and hotter chili peppers. This propensity toward spicy food has even reportedly been linked
with thrill-seeking behavior. Much like riding a roller coaster, the physiological effect of
having your mouth on fire produces a similar rush of adrenaline and feel-good endorphins. However,
the thrill of this heat is only good for your taste buds, and not your microwave. This may
sound surprising, but reheating hot peppers in the microwave could actually get you hurt.
Capsaicin, the active compound that determines how spicy chili peppers are,
acts as a chemical irritant for humans, hence creating that feeling of burning upon contact.
"Fire bad!"
Unlike other foods that might explode when they're heated in the microwave,
chili peppers won't necessarily burst. But that doesn't mean there's no problem,
as capsaicin will be released, and exposure to the fumes can cause your eyes and throat to have a
burning sensation. While you may get an adrenaline rush, the endorphins are unlikely to follow.
The convenience of chucking a hot dog in the microwave for a quick lunch is undeniable,
especially when you don't have the time or energy to whip up an elaborate meal.
We've all probably done this without sparing a single thought to whether or not it was
even a good idea. But you should really know that putting processed meats in the
microwave is a resounding no-no. As noted in the journal Lipids in Health & Disease,
"Microwaving and oven grilling resulted in higher production
of COPs in processed meat as compared with other cooking methods."
And a study published in Food Control in 2007 revealed that:
"[The development of these COPs] have been known to be more injurious to
arterial cells than pure cholesterol and are more directly connected to the
development of atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease."
Processed meats are already riddled with preservatives,
and COPs can hardly be avoided when it comes to animal products. But even considering all that,
you're still better off pulling out the frying pan or firing up the grill.
It might sound strange that anyone would ever think of microwaving grapes, but for some,
the notion isn't completely far-fetched. But whether you're heating up these fruits
as a snack or as an addition to some of your favorite meals, it's still safer to
roast them in the oven instead of giving them a quick blitz in the microwave. Not only would
you not get the same effect, but as it turns out, microwaving grapes can be a potential fire hazard.
"Frankenstein not thankful for fire. Frankenstein fear fire."
If you put grapes that are cut in half into the microwave, they act as an antenna that
shoots electrical currents across the skin connecting them. This causes them to produce
sparks of plasma, an ionized gas-like state of matter that's found in lightning and the sun,
and essentially ignites a fire. A recent study found that this phenomenon is not
only limited to halved grapes. It can also occur in whole grapes as well as other
similarly sized, sphere-shaped foods including blackberries, gooseberries, and quail eggs.
Sputtering, splattering sauce creating an explosive mess in the microwave is certainly
a nuisance. But the inconvenience of cleaning it all up actually isn't the primary reason that you
should never microwave red pasta sauce. This mess can be attributed to two specific elements of a
sauce: tomatoes and water. Tomatoes can help you stay hydrated since they're mostly made of water.
Once they're mangled down to make a sauce, you're left with a combination of low viscosity water,
which is liquid that flows easily, and higher viscosity fibrous bits of the rest of the tomato,
which make up the sauce's thick texture.
So essentially, when pasta sauce is rapidly heated in the microwave, the fibrous bits
increase in density, thus forcing the liquid that's now become steam to fight its way out.
With all this drama waiting to unfold,
you're much better off heating your leftover red pasta sauce in a saucepan over the stove.
Who hasn't suffered that sinking feeling when it dawns on you that you forgot to
transfer the meat you planned to prepare for supper from the freezer to the fridge?
But perhaps you think there's a quick fix: simply pop it in the microwave and set it to
defrost so you can get to your cooking as soon as possible! Unfortunately, microwave defrosting
often causes some parts of the meat to start cooking while others remain frozen.
Defrosting meat in the fridge rather than the microwave is about more than just heat
distribution. It's also a matter of bacterial growth. When meat is defrosted in the fridge,
the cold temperature slows bacterial growth. But in the microwave, the meat's temperature
can rise to a point where bacterial growth multiplies. If you're in a situation where
you absolutely must use the microwave, you should cook your meat immediately after defrosting it.
As far as vegetables go, broccoli is among those that probably go for a regular whirl in
the microwave. But don't expect them to retain all their nutritional value when you do that.
How much you preserve boils down to the finer details. An article published in the Journal of
the Science of Food and Agriculture in 2003 demonstrated that cooking broccoli in the
microwave strips it of up to 97 percent of its flavonoids, which are the compounds that contain
broccoli's anti-inflammatory properties. That's one-third more damage than is done by boiling.
On the other hand, a 2019 study that explored the impact of temperature, cooking time,
and whether or not the broccoli was cooked in water found that when it's microwaved,
the nutritional value isn't lost. The findings even suggested that microwaving
better preserved the flavonoids. However, this applied to only a single minute of cooking time.
So if you prefer your broccoli cooked through rather than al dente,
you should probably keep your florets far away from the microwave and stick with steaming.
Potatoes and mushrooms are infinitely versatile. Whether paired together or enjoyed in
any other capacity, few things compare to the comfort of leftover roast potatoes or mushrooms
that have been soaked in a flavorful sauce overnight. When it comes to reheating potatoes,
simply zapping them in the microwave isn't the primary reason for concern.
Rather, it's important that they're appropriately cooled and stored so that
they don't become a health hazard when you give them a whirl later.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, when potatoes are sealed and
left at room temperature for a while instead of being immediately stored in the fridge,
a bacteria that causes food poisoning can grow. Mushrooms are similar insofar they
also need to be stored in the fridge within two hours after they're cooked.
This will prevent their protein structure and enzymes from disintegrating and also prevent
food poisoning, especially if you're planning on reheating them in the microwave later.
Microwaving bread may not pose any threats to your health and safety,
but the awful taste and texture makes it worth mentioning here. The reason that
bread disintegrates into an unappetizing mess when microwaved has to do with sugar.
The starch in flour contains sugar molecules that melt and thereby soften the bread when
heated. Unfortunately, as soon as it cools down again, those sugar molecules recrystallize. This
results in a chewy, hard piece of bread. You'll be very familiar with this if you've ever popped
a slice of fresh bread into the microwave and hoped for a crispy piece of toast in return.
The mechanics of making toast in the microwave can be likened to starting
a fire using a boiling pot of water. If you don't have a traditional toaster,
simply use a hot pan to get those sides nice and toasty.
"I love bread."
How many times have you mindlessly heated up your tea in the microwave after it had gone cold?
For most people, this is an easy habit to pick up. You might even reheat your cup
several times. Maybe after a while you even forgo the kettle altogether,
and instead throw a tea bag and tap water in a mug, and then nuke it in the microwave.
But a perhaps surprising fact about tea is that different types need their water set
at different temperature points. Water for green tea and white tea should be
between 170 and 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Herbal tea should be at 210 Fahrenheit,
while oolong [OO-lawng] tea should be 200 Fahrenheit or hotter. Unlike most electrical
kettles that are made to heat water to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, there's no way of telling
how hot microwaved water is, which could result in overheated water and a wonky-tasting cup of tea.
"Hello, girls. I was hoping I'd catch you at tea."
Reheating cooked greens shouldn't cause a stir in your kitchen. But as one NPR writer
discovered in 2016 while trying to make kale chips in the microwave after their oven broke,
raw greens can send some sparks flying. And there's some science behind why this would happen.
Raw leafy greens are generally high in minerals such as iron,
magnesium, and selenium, which are the same minerals found in pieces of metal.
Because microwaves possess both electric and magnetic fields, you only need a tiny
bit of metal to light up the electric field. So just as a forgotten fork on your plate in
the microwave might spark up as soon as it starts whirring, so too will these greens.
If they're left cooking long enough, these sparks could actually catch fire. Thus, it's
infinitely safer to stick to your already cooked greens as the minerals have already been reduced.
As we've already established, grape-sized, sphere-shaped food items that contain
a lot of water are a fire hazard in the microwave. Also, the minerals found in raw,
leafy greens can produce a similar effect to what you get when you put metal cutlery inside
it. Frozen berries present both of those problems, and on top of all that,
there's another reason you should avoid putting them in the microwave.
According to the Plants for Human Health Institute, antioxidants found in berries can help
to prevent oxidative stresses that cause disease. But when they're microwaved for five minutes, this
capacity is diminished. So the next time you want to incorporate frozen berries into your favorite
main dish or baked goods, you can thaw them in the fridge if you have a little time to spare,
rather than blitzing them in the microwave. Otherwise you should simply use them as they
are. They might taste slightly different, but your body will be better off for it.
And before we wrap things up, we should make one final note that you shouldn't microwave something
that's already been microwaved. A general rule of thumb when it comes to leftovers is
that you should avoid reheating or refreezing food that's already been reheated or thawed.
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