Goin' Green - Solar Cooking

Written by Bakersfield Magazine

By now, many of us are aware of how integral the sun is to our daily lives. There are the obvious biological needs that the sun meets, like helping us absorb vitamin D (no one wants rickets) and providing energy for plants to photosynthesize (so that we can breathe). And, of course, there are solar energy benefits that we’re tapping into for a variety of reasons that will be helpful to us well into the future.

But do you remember when you were little and you dreamed about what the future would look like? We’d all be driving solar/hover cars, eating food in pill form, and possibly wearing Jetson-like clothing. Let’s be honest, though, the angular collars on those space-aged outfits aren’t the most flattering—and could probably put out an eye.

Still, for all the resources the sun provides for our future, it also has the potential to impact the present in ways we don’t fully utilize.

And one of the biggest ways the sun’s power helps people today is by being harnessed to cook food and purify water.

The sun can cook food? Sure. Haven’t you ever tried to fry an egg on the pavement on a hot, summer afternoon? It might not have turned out that well (perhaps slightly dirty) and we certainly don’t recommend actually eating items of food that have been cooked on asphalt (we hear gravel is bad for the lower intestine). Still, if the sun can power a car or generate enough energy to turn a light bulb on, why can’t it be used to cook a steak?

It’s actually not a new concept, but as of the late, more and more green companies are producing solar cookers.

According to Solarcooking.org, solar cooking is the simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food without consuming fuels or heating up the kitchen.

“After a a bit of experience,” the website boasts, “you’ll see how readily you can adapt your present cooking and baking to solar cooking. Using the solar cooker can actually reduce the total amount of effort in meal preparation. Also, cooking outside in the summer allows you to eliminate extra heat in the house. With solar cooking, you start your meals early in the day and then relax.”

It may sound futuristic, but it’s pretty simple.

“Most food, with the exception of cookies and open-faced cheese sandwiches, are cooked in containers with the lids on. The dark, speckled GranitWare pots are the best for most of the cooking and baking in the solar cooker. (The 9-inch round roaster makes a beautiful round loaf of bread). Be sure to use hot pads when removing the pots from the oven; the pot will be very hot!”

There are three types of cookers according to Solarcookers.org.

Box Cookers

Box cookers cook at moderate to high temperatures and often accommodate multiple pots. Worldwide, they are the most widespread. There are several hundred thousand in India alone. A simple solar box cooker with one reflector cooks at temperatures between 250 and 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

Curved Concentrator Cookers

Curved concentrator cookers, or “parabolics,” cook fast at high temperatures, but require frequent adjustment and supervision for safe operation. Several hundred thousand exist, mainly in China. They are especially useful for large-scale institutional cooking.

Panel Cookers

Panel cookers incorporate elements of box and curved concentrator cookers. They are simple and relatively inexpensive to buy or produce.

Everyone who’s ever cooked using a solar cooker or solar oven would say to start simple. If this is your first attempt at solar cooking, start with something easy—solar cooking websites suggest chicken, rice, zucchini, or quick breads such as banana bread. A baked potato is also an easy item to start with, just don’t cover it in aluminum foil as you would when baking it in the oven. You only need put the potato in a dark, covered pot. But don’t add water.

Inexpensive solar cooking pots can be ordered online from many various websites.

The great thing about solar cookers is that food such as roasts, stews, casseroles, poultry, potatoes, carrots, pot roasts, and rice are almost impossible to overcook. Timing isn’t an issue.

As described on Solarcooking.org, “chicken will still be juicy and will fall off the bone when solar cooked four hours instead of the needed two hours. The major advantage of solar cooking is the flexibility in cooking times.”

Here are some things to remember:

• The golden rule of solar cooking is: Get the food on early and don’t worry about over-cooking.
• You do not need to stir food while cooking. However, it’s OK to check the food if you quickly replace the lid.
• Place the hard-to-cook or larger quantity items in the back of the cooker where they will receive more direct sun. When using several pots, place the easy-to-cook food in the front of the cooker.

Many meals may be cooked without refocusing the solar cooker, and you will learn by experience. Just face the cooker so that halfway through the cooking time the sun will be right in front of the cooker with the prop stick casting a shadow on the proper stick holder. With lots of food, or on less than fully sunny days, refocus the oven once or twice.

• To bake cakes or bread in a solar box cooker, preheat the cooker for at least a half hour before adding the food.
• If you are cooking a large amount of food, it will cook more quickly if distributed between two or three smaller pots instead of one large pot.
• Allow plenty of time. Foods hold well in the solar oven without scorching or drying out.
• Most recipes calling for a higher temperature will do fine if you give them more time.
• Time for cooking depends on the temperature of the food as it is placed in the oven, as well as the brightness of the day.

However, there are some general time blocks that are given and recommended for certain types of foods and using simple box cookers. Foods like eggs, rice, fruits, vegetables, fish, and poultry need between one and two hours of cooking. Potatoes, most other meats, breads, and some beans take three to four hours. Large roasts and stews can take anywhere from five to eight hours. But that’s hardly any different than slow-cooking a roast in a crock-pot.

And with this method, you’re not using electricity and you eliminate the fear of over-cooking.

So it would seem the futuristic ways we’ll use the sun are here already. At least when it comes to cookin’.

Article appeared in our 27-3 Issue - August 2010