Did you know that toasters have been around since 1909? Toasters were actually a great invention of the 1900s because they made cooking bread a faster, simpler process.
Toasters not only make bread crunchier, they also causes a chemical reaction that makes the bread sweeter by caramelizing the sugars and starches. Toasted bread tastes different from soft bread and it’s also easier to spread butters, jams and jellies on the surface without poking holes into the bread.
There are three types of toasters: pop-up toasters, toaster ovens and conveyors.
The most common toasters, pop-up toasters, also known as automatic toasters, work by inserting a slice of bread vertically into one of the slots on the top of the toaster. A lever on the side is then pressed down which triggers the internal heating devices to work to begin radiating heat to the bread. A separate internal device determines when the bread is finished and the toaster pops the bread up.
Toasters are essential for making toast, toasting bagels and pastries, but toaster ovens can do all that plus bake small items that won’t fit into a regular toaster. Toaster ovens are used by opening the oven door, just like a typical oven, and placing a piece of bread horizontally on the tray. After closing the door and activating the toaster, a timer is set. You can actually add toppings, such as cheese, to the bread, something that can’t be done with typical pop-up toasters.
Conveyor toasters, used primarily in restaurant or catering industries, can make up to 900 slices an hour.
The primary features that vary most with different kinds of toasters are size and control settings. Most typical household toasters have either two slots or four, the difference being how many pieces of bread will fit in the toaster at one time. Wide-mouth toasters have slots that are big enough to accommodate bagels and other breads that are larger than a typical slice of bread.
Certain toasters also have different control settings that may include frozen and pastry settings that allow items to be toasted for longer periods of time. Other features such as color, style and design, cord retraction and storage and digital or analog controls, have more to do with the appearances of a toaster and not its performance.