1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to a container for controlling movement of liquids, and more specifically to an apparatus for preparing and cooking food products.
2. Description of the Related Art
While there are a variety of home kitchen appliances currently sold for cooking different food items, there are some unmet needs that have long been a problem in the household food-preparation/cooking world. For example, preparing and cooking dry beans is a notoriously laborious process, though cooked dry beans are well-known to be healthier and better tasting than canned or preserved beans. Further, in contrast to canned beans, the cook can control the content of the meal when cooking dry beans, including managing salt and sugar levels, and eliminating chemicals used in processing or preserving canned or processed beans. Dry beans can also typically be purchased for a low price. To get the better health benefits, taste, dietary control, and price of the dry beans, however, the cook must undergo many steps, each requiring the cook's presence.
The overall process for bean preparation/cooking can require hours, if not days (e.g., soybeans may require soaking for more than 12 hours). (See, e.g., M. Katzen, The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest, 2004. pp. 276-278; incorporated herein by reference for all purposes) Dry, unprocessed beans must often first be rinsed or washed to remove debris, and then the beans are soaked or otherwise hydrated with liquid, which can shorten cooking time and make the beans more digestible (e.g., 4 to 8 hours or overnight for a normal soak; 1 hour or more for a quick soak). While beans can be cooked in the soaking water to maximize nutrients, many drain the soaking water, rinse the beans, and then cook in fresh water, which is known to improve the digestibility and reduce flatulence associated with beans. Finally, the cooking can begin, commonly in a pot on the stove, beginning with boiling of the beans (including skimming foam collecting on top) and then simmering of the beans until cooked and tender (e.g., 1 to 2 hours). Since salt can disrupt the cooking, salt typically is not added while soaking or during the first hour of cooking. Thus, multiple labor-intensive steps require the user to return to the kitchen and take action, all the while carefully managing the temperature and environment of the beans.
Bean sprouting has also become a popular first step in the bean cooking process since sprouting increases the health benefit. (See, e.g., Ann Wigmore, The Sprouting Book: How to Grow and Use Sprouts to Maximize Your Health and Vitality, 1986; Steve Myerowitz, Sprouts The Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting, 1998; and M. Braunstein, Sprout Garden, 1999; these references are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes). To sprout dry beans, the cook rinses the dry beans, lays the beans out in a container with enough water to keep them moist, regularly adds water (e.g., typically twice a day), carefully monitors the water level to avoid drying out or over soaking of the beans. Typically, the beans sit for 3 or 4 days during sprouting (though they can mold or rot if they are allowed to sit for too long) and the temperature and lighting conditions of the sprouting beans must be monitored. Thus, the sprouting process adds days of effort and numerous manual steps for the cook to perform, which can push the sprouting process out of reach for the typical active or working household.
Currently, there is no device that can perform all or even most of these sprouting/preparation/cooking steps in an automated fashion. Automated devices such as crock pots and rice cookers do not have the functionality to perform these steps, since they do not even have the ability to move water into and out of the devices, much less the ability to carefully manage environmental conditions over a lengthy cooking process, and allow the performance of multiple different food preparation/cooking steps. While there are a few commercial cookers used by restaurants for cooking beans in large quantities, none of these devices are helpful to the typical consumer in the average household who wishes to prepare a meal including beans that started as dry, unprocessed beans (e.g. they are too large, too heavy, to complicated and labor-intensive, not suitable for home use, not portable or easily cleanable with standard home washing equipment, etc.). Thus, there is a long-felt and unmet need for a container for controlled movement of liquid, which can be used by the average consumer to fully automate preparation and cooking of many “food products” (i.e. something that can and is intended to be consumed after cooking, such as dry, unprocessed beans).