Solar Oven Cooking Tips

Maximize Your Modern Homestead With Solar Oven Cooking

Many people wonder if a solar oven can really get hot enough to bake golden brown bread or a piping hot soup, but it certainly can. On a sunny day a solar oven can get up to 350º F and can range from 175º F to 250º F with partial sun.

Solar Oven Cooking Tips :

Use dark colored cookware such as dark enameled pots and dark baking pans. The color will absorb heat better and lead to faster cooking times.

Reposition the solar oven to maximize sun exposure every hour or so for things like soups. Preheating food on the stove-top leads to quicker cook times in the solar oven. If you are in a hurry, bring a pot of soup or a pot of rice to a boil on the stove and then move it to the solar oven to finish cooking.

Recipe: Solar Vegetable and Lentil Soup

Ingredients: 1 can broth or homemade stock 1 can diced tomatoes 1 large onion, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 stalks celery, diced 1 carrot, sliced 1 cup lentils 2 cups assorted seasonal vegetables 1/2 cup quinoa or rice 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1 tablespoon herbs such as thyme, rosemary, basil. Water to cover ingredients

Stir and replace the lid. Wait for it come back to a simmer. After one more hour, stir the soup and check for doneness of the lentils and grains. Adjust seasoning to taste and serve.
By Eric Graber - EzineArticles.com

Can I Safely Cook Chicken in a Solar Oven? And Other Useful Tips and Information on Solar Cooking

Can meat be cooked safely in a solar oven?
How does the sun cook your food?

Most all professionally manufactured solar cookers are capable of reaching and sustaining the requisite temperatures needed for cooking meats and all other types of foods.
And most, well built, home made solar cookers can perform the same task just as well or better than a commercially manufactured cooker.

Solar cooking is done by means of the suns UV rays, it is not the sun's heat that cooks the food, nor is it the outside ambient temperature, though this can somewhat affect the rate or time required to cook, but rather it is the suns rays that are converted to heat energy and this heat energy is then retained by the pot and the food by means of a covering. An effective solar cooker will use the energy of the sun to heat a cooking vessel and efficiently retain the energy (heat) for maximum cooking effectiveness.

Dark surfaces become very hot; they heat up more quickly than shiny surfaces which reflect the suns rays away.

Next you will need a material that will reflect extra sunlight towards the cooking apparatus so as to concentrate the suns rays. With the help of a reflecting surface you will be able to increase the temperatures and to cook the food more rapidly.
By Nathan Parry  - EzineArticles.com