Evil tongues say that this appliance produces harmful radiation and using it regularly can cause illness. Nothing is further from reality. The microwave is a device that can be very useful on many occasions. With it we can reheat dishes without spending too much time and even cook a wide range of recipes, such as those indicated in this compilation.
The radiation it emits will not endanger our health at all, but using it does imply a risk that most of the time we overlook. Experts agree that the most common damage resulting from microwave use is burns, which in most cases are usually minor. However, there is also the possibility of more serious injuries if you are not careful.
It is common to injure yourself when handling containers when they are still hot, which is why it is recommended to wait a minute before removing food from inside the appliance. However, there are other ways of suffering burns that are worth knowing about. One of them was explained not so long ago in an article on this same channel, which exposed the risks of heating water in this appliance. But today the task at hand is to explain why you should never heat a hard-boiled egg in the microwave.
Preparing meals in advance to avoid rushing the following days is a very common practice. Also because in the case of some ingredients, cooking them can help them keep longer. This is the case of the egg, which once cooked can last up to a week in the refrigerator without going bad (as long as we have cooked it well and the shell has not broken).
In general, boiled egg usually accompanies cold preparations, such as Russian salad. However, there are many other hot dishes that incorporate it, such as some soups and stews. In the case of eating them alone, perhaps the appliance chosen to heat them, for speed and convenience, would be the microwave, but according to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) it is not a good idea at all.
OCU experts explained in a recent report that heating the egg in the microwave creates a buildup of steam inside the shell, which can cause the food to explode inside or outside the device. If it explodes inside, the worst of our problems will be that we will have to clean it, but if it explodes outside we can suffer serious burns due to food splashes.
Although it seems unusual that this could happen, there is a known case of a man who lost part of his hearing due to this phenomenon. The victim was about to eat a boiled egg that had been heated in the microwave at a restaurant and it exploded in his mouth, causing severe burns and as a consequence, according to what he himself claimed, a decrease in his hearing.
While tests were done to determine whether the explosion of the egg in the victim’s mouth could cause such damage and the experts determined that it was unlikely, they did conclude that misuse of the microwave could be dangerous.
