solar cooking
It's been sunny and warm, so I've been playing with DG's solar oven. My front yard gets solid sun for about 6 hours, so I'm sure I'm amusing the neighbors, as well. The oven is essentially a black box with a clear lid and some foil-coated reflectors. In full sun, it gets up to about 225F, but it takes some time to get there. Stuff does not burn, but it can dry out. There are 2 black dutch-oven type of pots that fit in the oven at a time. Not everything likes being slow-cooked, so I've had to experiment a bit. This week:
Potatoes & carrots: very good. About 5 hours.
Baking powder biscuits: so-so. They toasted, rather than crusty over soft. May need to adjust times and/or recipe. 3 - 4 hours.
Pumpkin bread: excellent! Cooked through, with a nice cake-like crust. 5 hours.
Millet: Good. Fully cooked, but not overcooked. 4 - 5 hours.
Beans & onions: ok. Did 4 hours, could have used a bit more time for the beans.
Oatmeal cookies: Cooked inside the pots. Top layer did wonderfully, bottom layers were more more cake-like. 3 hours.
Today: chocolate chip cookies on pans, rather than in the pots.
The oven is a "Sport", made by the Solar Oven Society, http://www.solarovens.org/ They make them mostly for the 3rd-world, to improve the lives of people who don't have a lot of fuel otherwise. It works pretty well here, too. :)
It's easy to work - just put the stuff in and leave it alone, except for occasionally adjusting the angle from east to west. I have a large pile of wood chips to move today, so I'd better get to that...
Potatoes & carrots: very good. About 5 hours.
Baking powder biscuits: so-so. They toasted, rather than crusty over soft. May need to adjust times and/or recipe. 3 - 4 hours.
Pumpkin bread: excellent! Cooked through, with a nice cake-like crust. 5 hours.
Millet: Good. Fully cooked, but not overcooked. 4 - 5 hours.
Beans & onions: ok. Did 4 hours, could have used a bit more time for the beans.
Oatmeal cookies: Cooked inside the pots. Top layer did wonderfully, bottom layers were more more cake-like. 3 hours.
Today: chocolate chip cookies on pans, rather than in the pots.
The oven is a "Sport", made by the Solar Oven Society, http://www.solarovens.org/ They make them mostly for the 3rd-world, to improve the lives of people who don't have a lot of fuel otherwise. It works pretty well here, too. :)
It's easy to work - just put the stuff in and leave it alone, except for occasionally adjusting the angle from east to west. I have a large pile of wood chips to move today, so I'd better get to that...