Solar Cooker

Listing ID #4175750

Solar Cookers are a remarkable low-tech and low-impact accessory for cooking, and can make sense even if you have access to plenty of cheap electricity, as long as you have abundant sunshine. Solar cooking is the simplest, safest, most convenient way to cook food without consuming fuels or heating up the kitchen.

sunlight is converted to heat energy that is retained for cooking. Sunlight is the "fuel." A solar cooker needs an outdoor spot that is sunny for several hours and protected from strong wind, and where food will be safe. Solar cookers don't work at night or on cloudy days. Dark surfaces get very hot in sunlight, whereas light surfaces don't. Food cooks best in dark, shallow, thin metal pots with dark, tight-fitting lids to hold in heat and moisture.

The three most common types of solar cookers are heat-trap boxes, curved concentrators (parabolics) and panel cookers. Hundreds — if not thousands — of variations on these basic types exist. Additionally, several large-scale solar cooking systems have been developed to meet the needs of institutions worldwide.

•  Moderate cooking temperatures in simple solar cookers help preserve nutrients.
•  Those who otherwise could not afford the fuel to do so can cook nutritious foods — such as legumes and many whole grains — that require hours of cooking.
•  At times many families must trade scarce food for cooking fuels. Solar cooking can help them to keep more food and improve their nutrition.
•  Smoky cooking fires irritate lungs and eyes and can cause diseases. Solar cookers are smoke-free.
•  Smoke from cooking fires is a major cause of global warming and dimming.
•  Cooking fires are dangerous, especially for children, and can readily get out of control — causing damage to buildings, gardens, etc. Solar cookers are fire-free.
•  Millions of people routinely walk for miles to collect fuel wood for cooking. Burdensome fuel-gathering trips can cause injuries, and expose people to danger from animals and criminals. Solar cooking reduces these risks and burdens, and frees time for other activities.
•  With good sunlight, solar cookers can be used to cook food or pasteurize water during emergencies when other fuels and power sources may not be available.