Solar Cooking Recipes: Fruits, Vegetables and More

Solar Cooking Recipes

There are many foods that do not require much effort in the way of preparing of ingredients; other than the requisite cleaning of the food item.Nevertheless I will offer a few suggestions and tips for a number of food items that can pretty much be lumped together in to a "simple solar cooking foods" category.

Corn on the cob

• Set out solar pot with enough water to cover the intended amount of corn on the cob and allow it to come to a boil.
• Shuck and clean corn.
• When water is boiling place the corn into pot and cover quickly.
• Allow corn to cook for no less than 45 minutes, more if the amount of corn is large.

If you don't mind the distinct flavor of un-shucked corn, you can leave them covered in the husk and cook them without water. The husks give off more moisture naturally while cooking...Do not try to cook to many at once.

Hard Boiled Eggs

Eggs are very easy to do and it is not even necessary to use water in order to hard boil them.I do prefer using a little bit of water though when I boil my eggs so as to avoid the darkening or burning of the part of the shell that comes in contact with the metal pot.The Egg though, is not harmed in any way when it does darken.

• As with all foods when solar cooking, do not put too much in your pot, whereas this can cause inconsistent cooking results and longer cooking times.
• When cooking eggs it is not necessary to preheat your solar oven or pot.
• A small amount of eggs can cook in usually an hour, sometimes less.
• Seasons of the year can affect your cook times any where you might live.

Fried Eggs

• Set your solar pot to preheat with 1tablespoon of butter, oil or bacon grease.
• When the temperature in your solar cooker shows about 300° F add your egg to the oil with salt, pepper or favorite seasoning.
• Cover, and allow it to cook for about three to five minutes.

Bacon

Set your solar oven or pot in the sun to pre-heat, most preferably with the reflector panels attached.Use a dark colored cookie sheet or cake pan, preferably longer than wide.This will depend on the size of your solar oven though.Lay your thawed bacon out in flat, even strips, putting as many as you can tightly fit on the tray.
(The bacon will shrink greatly.)
When the oven shows at least 250° F or more then quickly place your bacon inside and re-cover the cooker.The bacon should take about two hour to cook, sometimes less.Check on it in about an hour and determine whether you want it more or less done.
The solar oven can cook bacon very easily.
*Remember though that pork as well as poultry should be thoroughly cooked so as not to risk sickness.

Baked Potatoes

With potatoes all you need to do is clean the skins well and then lay them in the pot or pan.If you have a transparent lid on your solar pot or cooker the suns energy will cook the potatoes even better due to the dark color of the potato skins.I never cook more than five large potatoes at a time in a pot due to the time constraint.If you can fit a large dark cookie tray into your solar oven then you can lay the potatoes evenly on the tray and by covering them with an oven bag cook them even quicker.I have cooked potatoes almost as quickly in a solar oven as in a conventional oven on an ideal day and with the ideal amount of potatoes.

Veggies

• We cook a variety of vegetables; from canned to fresh and frozen.
• Vegetables such as asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, peas, cut corn, spinach, onions and many others can be cooked in small darkened (enamel, cast iron, painted steel) pots and pans. This can be done covered or uncovered with the results varying slightly between methods.
• Broccoli, cauliflower, beans, asparagus, peas in pod etc. can be cooked without water yet still cook similar to steam cooked vegetables.
• I will admit that I like to add a small amount of water to augment the steam buildup.

Fruits

Any fruits that you may typically cook for use in desserts or other dishes can also be cooked in a solar cooker, In fact you can even bottle and preserve fruits and vegetables using a method that will be covered on our site in the near future.

A Favorite way to do apples is by slicing them (three apples) into small pieces, adding about a half cup of water, some sugar (to taste) and cinnamon and placing them in a covered dark pot and allowing them to cook for about two hours or more. (I prefer more) I then add a scoop of ice cream and have my pie without the crust.

Peaches can be done in the same way for a peach cobbler.You can do the crust for the peach cobbler separately in order to have a crisper, more firm crust and then add the peaches on top after they have cooked in the same manner as the apples illustrated above.Or you can combine them from the beginning and have a moister, doughy crust.

Besides the solar cooker, there is of course the traditional and time tested method of preserving fruits and vegetables by drying them.This does not require a solar cooker but rather an open ventilated surface (screen or mesh); the sun does all the rest and within a day or two you will have a tasty solar treat direct from Mother Nature. How much more natural can you get.

Many of the more basic foods can be experimented with in regards to method, cook time, and results. Just as you would do in your own kitchen you can try any thing that sounds appealing to you.On our recipe pages we will give what has worked for us and also give some general guidelines and parameters within which to work but the rest is up to you and Mother Nature.

Enjoy your experiences in the fascinating world of Solar Cooking!

Thank you for visiting Solar Cooking Recipes! 

Return from Fruits, Vegetables and More back to Solar Cooking Recipes 

Go to: 
Solar Cooking Tips and suggestions 
Solar Cookers for Canning and Preserving 

Solar Cooking Photos 

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