Cooking with Sunlight: Learn How to Cook Food With Solar Cookers
(Page 3 of 4)
May/June 2003
By Jennifer Andes
3. Parabolic: Consisting of a concave disk that focuses light onto the bottom of a pot, parabolic cookers cook about as quickly as a conventional stove. In fact, Curtis says the temperature inside the pot on a good parabolic cooker can actually fry food, which is not possible with the other cookers. The reflectors, he explains, direct the sun’s energy onto a small focal area within the cooker with such intensity that a rolled-up newspaper would burst into flames. Parabolic cookers can cause burns if used incorrectly, and, because the concentrated sunlight heats the pot quickly, food must be stirred and watched carefully. Parabolic cookers cost $100 or more and can be ordered through E.G. Solar, a German company.
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Solar cooking made easy
Catch some rays. On a clear day with strong sun, food can be put in the cooker in the morning and left all day until it’s time for the evening meal. Just place the cooker so that it faces the sun’s position in the early afternoon sky, and the food will cook slowly and at an average temperature of about 225 to 275 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the quality and type of cooker. “Some higher-quality cookers can even cook on partly cloudy days or during the winter months, but temperatures will generally be somewhat lower, and it is best to rotate the cookers more frequently to track the sun,” says Kevin Porter of Solar Cookers International.
Cloudy days. The cookers’ efficiency depends more on the intensity of the sun than on the outside air temperature. Food will not cook on days when clouds completely block out direct sunlight, yet Dar Curtis, director of Solar Household Energy (SHE), cooked a chicken at his Washington, D.C.–area home one Christmas. “It was one of those cold, bright days with no passing clouds,” he says.
Timing is everything. It’s not always easy to tell when food is ready, and people new to solar cooking will have to test food and rely on trial and error. As a guideline, Curtis and his one of his partners in SHE, Louise Meyer, say it takes about 50 percent longer to cook food in a solar cooker than in a conventional oven. And like a gas or electric oven, a solar cooker cooks some foods faster than others. A three-pound chicken, for example, may be ready in two hours, whereas stews may need five or six hours. Bacteria growth in the food is not a concern as long as the cooker stays hot. Food is pasteurized at 160 degrees Fahrenheit, Curtis explains, and begins cooking at 180 degrees.