I wouldn’t want to live in southern Arizona without a solar oven.  In fact I use three ovens, two my husband and I made almost 30 years ago and one lightweight, portable commercial Sun Oven. People all over the United  States have discovered solar cooking but it is best known and practiced in the sunny Southwest with yearly solar cook-offs in Tucson in May and every June in Bisbee.

Sun Ovens International www.sunovens.com sells its ovens in 126 countries.  In some of them it has teamed up with Rotary to help fight deforestation by providing solar ovens to needy communities and individuals.  Over one third of the world still uses wood or charcoal to cook with so using the sun for fuel helps to preserve trees and clean air.

Solar cooking saves energy.  Not only does it use free, unlimited sunshine but it also allows you to cook outside so that your home stays cool all summer and doesn’t have to be cooled down with fans or air-conditioning.  It’s great for RV living.  It also reduces your carbon footprint as no pollution is generated to produce its fuel or while cooking

Solar cooking is convenient.  The Sun Oven collapses in one quick motion into a small 21 pound case with handle that can easily be transported on a back seat or trunk of a car.  You can assemble a pot roast with potatoes and vegetables, position the oven so that it is focused right on the sun at 2 o’clock and then go to work.  When you return home at 5 o’clock your meal is hot, the meat is falling off the bone, all the veggies are cooked and your yard smells great.  Solar ovens can be set up in the park, at the beach, in a campground, on a boat or balcony or brought to a potluck or picnic.

Solar cooking is easy.  Just season or brown meats indoors and place in oven in a dark pot with lid.  No extra liquid is necessary as meats will make their own juices.  For baked potatoes, wash and puncture, put in a pot with lid. An hour later they will be moist and soft or crisp on the outside if you leave them in a bit longer.  For baked winter squash cut in half, remove seeds, dot with butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper and put in a pot with lid.  Rice, beans, casseroles, quiches and egg dishes cook even on partially cloudy days.

Solar cooking is safe.  There is no fire hazard as there is no open flame and the oven can be left cooking unmonitored.  It will automatically turn itself down as the sun moves in the sky unless you are there to rotate it.  Ovens preheat to temps over 350 degrees in 20 minutes. (Any temp over 160 kills bacteria and other microbes.) Wind adaptation includes 4 bungees to keep the reflectors in place even in strong winds and concrete blocks on either side and/or cooking in a heavy cast iron pot will keep it from tipping over.

Solar cooking promotes self sufficiency.  It helps families reduce their energy consumption and unplug from the increasingly expensive and unstable energy supply.  It allows you to keep cooking even in a blackout or other emergency situation.

Solar cooking is fun.  Even after thirty years of cooking with sunshine, I am still not over the thrill and the miracle of it.  It’s also great for gardeners or those that want to relax around their patio or pool as you don’t have to trek into the house to keep an eye on your baking or to stir the pot.

Solar cooking is delicious as the food cooks slowly, gently and evenly, remaining moist and tender.  The low heat method retains more vitamins and other nutrients than in high-heat methods.

Come celebrate the summer solstice at the 6th Annual Solar Cook-off & Expo at the Bisbee Farmers Market this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.  Watch solar chefs display their skills in homemade and commercial solar ovens and hot plates.  Solar chefs are invited to participate by signing in when they arrive.  Judging will take place at noon with prizes for the best main dish, vegetarian dish, baked good and dessert.  Participants are welcome to sample each others dishes at the potluck at noon.

Baja Arizona Sustainable Agriculture will have an information booth with 3 different solar cookbooks for sale along with plans to make your own oven or hot plate.  Take a solar oven home from Atalanta Bookstore or a solar cookbook or book on alternative energy. Information will also be available about S.S.V.E.C.’s solar electricity programs.

This Week at the Farmers Market

Bisbee Farmers Market

Summer Solstice Celebration with Solar Cook-off & Expo. Mellow music by Amy Ross & Derek and home-style Mexican food for breakfast and lunch by Elvia Villa and Family. (Menu includes tortilla soup, chicken and beef tostadas, steak and cheese burritos, quesadillas, tamales, menudo, home-style salsa and tortillas.)

Burda Farm will have chard, red and golden beet tops, spinach, sunflower bouquets and fresh herbs (spearmint, lime mint, Italian flat parsley, dill, oregano and thyme.)  It will also have spring lettuce, sugar snap peas, red and yellow onions, tomatoes and English style cucumbers, local pecans, pistachios and walnuts, pinto beans and soup mix. Take home some European style breads, pies and pastries, gourmet vinegars and salad oils.

Have a hard time getting your family to eat their fruits and veggies? Try Cecilia’s “Five A Day” Salad.  Add cucumbers, celery, onion, pistachios ( the chile lime or hickory mesquite add a great flavor) or pecans,  sliced nectarines and/or peaches, red or green grapes, red bell pepper and raisins to your favorite spring lettuce mix.  Toss with roasted hazelnut or walnut oil with lime or lemon juice.

Onion grower extraordinaire Bobby Gowins of McNeal will bring his super sweet Granex and purple onions to market.  He keeps one of his white onions peeled and washed in the refrigerator in a Ziploc bag and cuts off a slice to eat with his meals.  The sliced onions are great on hamburgers or in bologna sandwiches.  One of his customers savors them in onion sandwiches, a thick slice of sweet onion with lots of mayonnaise on your favorite bread.  Sweet onions can also be baked by wrapping them in foil and adding them to the grill or grilling them with or without olive oil.

Elfrida Community Garden will have green onions, pecans, fresh herbs, gourds, plants.

High Grade Rubs will provide samples of its rubs for chicken, pork, beef or seafood for the solar chefs at the cook-off.

Dragoon Marketplace brings red, green and low acid yellow and orange tomatoes and baby lettuce each week along with sugar-free chutneys, cherry and cherry chipotle jams and strawberry, pineapple, mango marmalade he and his wife makes along with local pistachios, pinto beans and chile powder.  (SVFM)

Helen Hayes brings Azmira holistic pet food, treats and remedies created by a Tucson vet.  She also has Snakebite and Colorado toad kits to help dogs survive these two natural hazards.  (Also at SVFM.)

Stop by the market’s coffee stall for cups of freshly brewed, locally roasted Just Coffee that supports a coffee growers cooperative in Mexico and the farmers market.  Take home some of this fair-trade and organic coffee from vendor Roy Goodman.

Sweet Treats:  Rocky Road fudge hand made in Bisbee by Bonne de Blas available in decorative packages.

Trees, shrubs and flowers that do well here will be offered by Hereford growers Gary Foss of Oaks of the Wild West and grower Yvonne  Jingle.

Get set to collect rain water off your roof this monsoon season with affordable rain barrels in a variety of colors by Andrew Nelson.

Solar Recipes:



Crustless Crab Quiche

Adapted from Cooking with Sunshine by Lorraine Anderson & Rick Palkovic

4 cage-free eggs

1 cup sour cream        

1 cup small curd cottage cheese

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup unbleached white flour

pinch of nutmeg

1/2 cup shredded crab meat

? cup thinly sliced green onions

2 cups grated Monterey jack cheese

Lightly oil an 8 or 9 inch square or round baking pan.  In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sour cream, cottage and Parmesan cheeses, flour and nutmeg.  Stir in crab, scallions and Jack cheese.  Pour mixture into pan.  Bake for one to two hour in solar oven until firmly set and knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

 

Gingerbread

2 cups unbleached white or wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder or soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup canola or flaxseed oil

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup crystallized ginger, finely minced

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.  Add egg, maple syrup, molasses and oil and beat until smooth and creamy.  Stir in yogurt and crystallized ginger and mix well.  Lightly oil 8 inch square pan and spread batter in pan.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool and cut into squares.