Solar Cooking With Solar Ovens

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Using Solar Cookers and Solar Ovens

Solar cooking has many advantages over traditional cooking methods, especially if you are environmentally concerned. Using a solar cooker has a negligible environmental impact, since the only energy you are using comes from the sun. However, using a solar cooker can have a considerable impact on your personal schedule, as you will need to modify your schedule to take advantage of the benefits of solar cooking.

Since cooking with a solar oven is different than cooking with a traditional oven or stovetop appliance, it is important to get the hang of it to get good results. Rather than wasting time with fumbling experimentation, why not take some advice? Here are some good tips for more effective solar cooking:

Four vital Tips for Solar Cooking with Solar Ovens

1. Direct sunlight

Direct sunlight is very important for solar cooking. If your solar cooker is partially in shadow, food will cook unevenly or not at all. Therefore, you will want to make sure that nothing will block the path between your solar oven and the sun during your cooking period.

If you will be cooking something that will take several hours, such as roast meats, you will want to plan for the path of the sun. Thus, you will not want to orient the cooker to be in the peak of where the sun is at the moment you start cooking. You will want to orient the cooker to receive the maximum sun pattern throughout the entire timeframe.

2. Small pieces

With conventional ovens, you just throw everything in and turn a switch. With a solar oven, while you can throw everything in, you will have to wait a considerable amount of time for large pieces to cook thoroughly. A better plan is to use smaller pieces when doing solar cooking.

3. Don't open the oven more than once every 1 - 2 hours

With traditional cooking, stirring, peeking, poking, and prodding are all a part of the process. Some dishes are even traditionally stirred continuously. However, this kind of behavior will not work well with a solar cooker.

Solar cooking requires a build up of heat within the solar oven. Every time you open the cooker or take the lid off the pot, you remove all of the heat that has been created, effectively starting over. Remember, solar cooking does not need to be stirred. You should avoid opening the cooker more than once in a 1 - 2 hour period.

4. Use thick dark pots and pans

When you cook with a solar oven, it is a good idea to use thick, dark pots and pans for cooking. Cast iron is a good choice, but any heavy dark pot or pan will do the trick. These darker pots and pans pull in more heat, providing a more even and complete cooking experience.

The dark pots and pans also help to keep food warm if it is not going to be eaten right away. While solar cookers work best in the middle of the day, dinnertime might not be for hours. With a thick, dark pot or pan holding the food, it will still be a good temperature at the dinner hour.