The microwave oven is becoming a common culinary tool for new generations

Since the discovery of fire, human beings have used heat to cook; and he has always done it the same way: providing external temperature. This thermal transmission can take place in various ways (direct fire, by means of heated water, steam, grease, etc.), but always in the same direction: from the outside to the inside. Now we can talk about a new way of heating and, therefore, of cooking, which operates at all points of the food.

It was during the course of radar-related research around 1945 that Raytheon engineer Percy Spencer noticed something very peculiar. He was testing a new vacuum tube, called a magnetron, when he discovered that his fudge had melted. Intrigued as to whether those waves had affected the candy bar, Spencer ran an experiment. This time he placed several popcorn seeds near the tube and walked away. They began to move, cook, swell and jump, spreading throughout the laboratory. The microwave oven was born.

In principle, the new technique was seen away from homes. But in the seventies it began to timidly enter the US market. By the late 1980s, 25 percent of US kitchens already had microwaves. It is estimated that almost 90 percent of households in the US and Western Europe today have this type of oven, with a very rapid evolution in recent years in countries such as Spain.

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