Solar Cooking

[lemniscate]

Hello, first post here. Anyone else ever use a solar oven for cooking? I purchased one off eBay a while back and have been playing around with it. I've gotten great results roasting garlic heads, potatos, carrots and mushrooms. The temp inside usually is in the 250F-300F range in full bright sun. Like a non-electric crock pot. I haven't attempted anything with meat yet, but am planning to do a pot of pinto beans as the next "experiment".

The kind I have is a knock-off of the Global brand. http://www.sunoven.com/about.asp

This seems to be a pretty amazing company, doing lots of "good works" globally to help people cook without deforesting their environment.

I've been having fun doing solar oven cooking and am always looking for new ideas. I have been negotiating with my husband about which part of the yard I can build an hornos, an adobe, dome-shaped, wood-fired oven for breads. LOL, thank goodness he's an easy-going guy, he just smiles and shakes his head at my new ventures. I'm an engineer by trade, but as I get older I'm finding there's an inner-hippy trying to take over.

lemniscate

[JSD]

I bought a global sun oven a month ago. I'm still learning how to use it. During the heat wave I baked several cakes in it. As far as I can see the only drawback is that you have to cook during the prime sunlight, and you have to be home to keep turning the oven toward the sun. Other than that, it's great.

It's funny, people think it's survivalist or something, but when California is having warnings of energy shortages, such as earlier this week, you can cook without contributing to the problem.

I cooked dried beans in it, but I heated the liquid before putting it in the oven, to hurry it up. I never had to stir it.

[iHEARTalbany]

wait for homaru cantu's polymer box to be released to the public...a perfected solar oven is in the pipeline!

[lemniscate]

I bought a global sun oven a month ago.  I'm still learning how to use it.  During the heat wave I baked several cakes in it.  As far as I can see the only drawback is that you have to cook during the prime sunlight, and you have to be home to keep turning the oven toward the sun.  Other than that, it's great.

It's funny, people think it's survivalist or something, but when California is having warnings of energy shortages, such as earlier this week, you can cook without contributing to the problem.

I cooked dried beans in it, but I heated the liquid before putting it in the oven, to hurry it up.  I never had to stir it.

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I'm not a survivalist by any stretch. I don't even camp. But I do like use solar power where it makes sense and is cost effective. I love the fact I don't heat up my kitchen to bake, cause I'd just pay to cool it down again. The farmhouse I grew up in had an outbuilding that was the summer kitchen. Maybe that idea isn't so old fashioned anymore

Oh yeah! I forgot I did baked apples with maple sauce too.

What types of cakes did you do and how were the results? I need to find one of those old splatterware black roasters to use the oven more efficiently. Need to go haunt a few thrift stores.

Lemnisc8

[JSD]

I made apple cake, sort of a coffee cake several times. The recipe is not solar, but works great, in a normal 9 x 9 pan. However, because we were eating a lot of it, I tried to make it a little more healthy, reducing the sugar and substituting whole wheat for all purpose flour. It wasn't great any more. Next time I might make the flour 50/50. The sugar reduction wasn't a problem.

I want to make ginger bread but I haven't found crystalized ginger yet.

I like the solar oven because if I bake inside, I use energy when I turn the oven on, and then use energy again, cooling the house back down. Because of that, I don't bake in summer at all.

What is your latitude?

[lemniscate]

I made apple cake, sort of a coffee cake several times.  The recipe is not solar, but works great, in a normal 9 x 9 pan.  However, because we were eating a lot of it, I tried to make it a little more healthy, reducing the sugar and substituting whole wheat for all purpose flour.  It wasn't great any more.  Next time I might make the flour 50/50.  The sugar reduction wasn't a problem.

I want to make ginger bread but I haven't found crystalized ginger yet.

I like the solar oven because if I bake inside, I use energy when I turn the oven on, and then use energy again, cooling the house back down.  Because of that, I don't bake in summer at all.

What is your latitude?

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approx. 33N 112W, noooooo shortage of solar radiation where I live.........

[andiesenji]

I have a solar cooker that looks sort of like a large TV dish but the sides are shiny polished aluminum triangular "leaves" that can be rotated and slid behind each other to make it a small package. It t stands on a metal tripod and has a 12 inch disc at the center and a ring on a wand that holds a 6-inch lens where the reflection from the leaves can be focused to make the cooker really hot. There is a deep round aluminum Dutch oven sort of thing that comes with a rack and an aluminum plate for baking bread, cakes, etc., and there is a shallower pan for frying, etc. It will get to 500 degrees. We tested it several times by holding a piece of wood under the lens and the wood would char, then burn.

I have had it for 35 or more years. We used to cook with it up in the high Sierras and at high altitude it works a treat. If I can get to where it is stored in the shed, I will try to pull it out and set it up and take photos.

[Rachel Perlow]

I want to make ginger bread but I haven't found crystalized ginger yet.

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May I recommend mail ordering from Penzey's? Figure out all the spices you need and do a big order, it's more cost effective that way.

[deltadoc]

I'm seeing Cousin Eddy in Vegas Vacation using Solar Power to fry the chicken on big 'ol rocks!

Rusty suffered the ill-effects!

doc

[pounce]

I want to make ginger bread but I haven't found crystalized ginger yet.

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May I recommend mail ordering from Penzey's? Figure out all the spices you need and do a big order, it's more cost effective that way.

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Trader Joes has two kinds (cheap too). I eat a bag a week. Totally addicting.

[JSD]

I want to make ginger bread but I haven't found crystalized ginger yet.

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May I recommend mail ordering from Penzey's? Figure out all the spices you need and do a big order, it's more cost effective that way.

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Trader Joes has two kinds (cheap too). I eat a bag a week. Totally addicting.

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Thank you both - I found crystalized ginger, and am going to make gingerbread today.

Sunday I had my first failure with solar cooking. I had a power outage, so to speak. I was baking another apple cake when it started to get cloudy! My area enjoys 300 days of sun, so I was not expecting this. What has taken 1 1/4 hours normally, wasn't finished in 3 hours. I finally put it in the conventional oven, but it wasn't the same and tasted like raw flour. I have two solar cookbooks, and one of them said if you have 20 minutes of sun per hour you can cook. I think that might not be true with baking. I'm still learning.

approx. 33N 112W, noooooo shortage of solar radiation where I live.........

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Phoenix? You have even more days of sun than us. I thought we might receive more solar radiation due to our elevation, approx 4500 feet, but apparently not.

[JSD]

If you are solar baking, and it's a beautiful sunny day, DO NOT GO TAKE A SHOWER while your cake is baking. It will be overcooked by the time you check on it. Today was quite a contrast with Sunday when my cake never finished cooking. My gingerbread is a little scorched. I think it cooked faster because it's dark (think of the perfect black body in physics). The top is a little tough, but the rest tastes very good, and the crystalized ginger gives it an extra punch of flavor.

[Kouign Aman]

Has anyone tried roasting potatoes or a chicken yet?

I'm intrigued by the possibilities of solar cooking.

(I suppose one could cook eggs in the solar powered hot water straight from the heater.)

[andiesenji]

approx. 33N 112W, noooooo shortage of solar radiation where I live.........

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Phoenix? You have even more days of sun than us. I thought we might receive more solar radiation due to our elevation, approx 4500 feet, but apparently not.

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Where you notice a big difference is when you get above 6000 ft. We often camped and fished around Convict Lake which is close to 8000 ft. alt. and one sunburns more rapidly and the solar cooker worked very rapidly also. However, water boils at a lower temp so anything that needs to be stewed or boiled, takes longer. Baking is also faster because the material loses moisture quicker than at lower altitude and one has to adjust the baking formula for that - baking powder leavening has to be adjusted - use less. Sourdough actually works better at high altitude, probably the reason it was so popular with the 49ers in the high Sierras.

Here is a conversion chart for leavening.