Make Soup—and Bread and More—While the Sun Shines!Make Soup—and Bread and More—While the Sun Shines!
by
Sharon Cousins, from the July 2007 Newsletter
What do cardboard, glue, canning jars, aluminum foil, sheet metal, foil-on-foam windshield shades, black paint, oven bags, buckets, and newspaper have in common? They can all be used to make simple, inexpensive solar cookers and cooking equipment!
A woman in Norway is cooking in homemade suncookers (with snow on the ground!). The Palouse is not too far north. On sunny days, we can catch free rays and use them to cook.
The gentle cooking preserves color, nutrients, and some enzymes. The food has an unbelievably fresh flavor. Steaming, simmering, baking, and roasting are all possible in simple solar cookers (more sophisticated versions fry and grill). Just think—fresh bread, baked potatoes, and garden soups and casseroles in the dog days of summer, while your kitchen stays cool!
It's fun and fascinating, this conjunction of science and food. You'll be amazed the first time you watch soup bubbling in a contraption you made out of cardboard and aluminum foil! Enjoy a family sunfeast, each person using his or her own homemade cooker to produce a dish. Your kids (in good sunglasses, please) might get a science fair project out of the deal, and kids (of ALL ages!) can help with ongoing research.
Suncooking is fun, healthy, convenient, safe with reasonable precautions (sunglasses, potholders, safe/supervised use of spray paint and sharp blades, etc.), and delicious. The energy is free and non-polluting. When you cook with sun, you help the whole world. For better and for worse Americans are trendsetters for the globe. Help set a trend on the "better" side—a win/win for everyone involved.
For information and discussion forums on suncooking throughout the world, comprehensive instructions and advice on building and using homemade cookers, an amazing photo gallery of cookers, and more, visit the Solar Cookers International's Solar Cooking Archives at: http://solarcooking.org/.
Sharon Cousins (aka SharonID on the Internet) has lived, loved, crafted, and cooked on the Palouse for over 30 years. Her new suncooking advocacy is dedicated, in part, to the memory of Leroy Lee.
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