Solar oven cooking is very cool. Take a box, take some milk, and make yogurt using solar energy to cook the yogurt. neat. Solar ovens are not super efficient in New England, but in summer you can use one. I think this is a good thing for kids to work with, they make their own food and learn about solar energy as well.
Have you used a solar oven, or have you made one? let us know below.
Kasin Hunter
Fun video, dogs and all. Yep, I use my solar oven a few times a week. Out here in Tucson, Arizona, we have plenty of sun to play with. Never made yogurt though. Humm . . . I think I'll do that. My solar oven gets hotter than yours, but it cost more than a cardboard box; so there's the trade off. 🙂 Thanks for the tips.
Kasin Hunter
Trying your yogurt recipe today! 🙂 You didn't say what temp. to sterilize the canning jars in the microwave. I'll look it up.
Kasin Hunter
I found on the USDA website that you shouldn't use a microwave to sterilize jars . . .
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/FactSheets/Microwave_Ovens_and_Food_Safety/index.asp
"Can a microwave oven be used for home canning?
Do not use the microwave for home canning or sterilizing jars. Use a water-bath or pressure canner, and approved canning jars and lids. At one time, "canners" were developed for use in the microwave; however these did not produce a safe product and are no longer manufactured. "
What other safe alternative do we have?
Eric Gunnar Rochow
neat. could you send me some picts of your solar oven in use? and the final products of the solar cooking? eric@gardenfork.tv
Eric Gunnar Rochow
microwave ovens run on full to a fine job sterilizing the jars, you can also sterilize you plastic cutting boards and dish sponges in the microwave.
Eric Gunnar Rochow
my point here is you can use the microwave to sterilize the GLASS jars not metal lids, and you should not use the microwave for any canning process itself.
in this video i am making yogurt, which is not 'canned' but we are using a glass canning jar as a clean container for the yogurt to ferment
Kathy Lee
I love the light-hearted, easy-go-lucky attitude of this video. Almost a video in what not to do, but Eric is completely at ease and unruffled when things go wrong, which is actually a great lesson for kids - if at first you don't succeed, try again. Thanks for making the cardboard box solar oven construction look so easy. I have a solar oven and love to take it camping. Makes the very best rice!
Ken
paint the OUTSIDE of the box black.
cut small windows on the side and top for air movement, each of which has mosquito netting (taped to the inside). If you place your black box in the sun on a hot summer day, it can heat to over 150 degrees depending how large your openings are.
Anne B
About "sterilizing" in the microwave: true sterilizing kills all the bacteria and resistant spores and is accomplished with steam and pressure, as in a pressure cooker or autoclave. What we are trying to accomplish by putting jars or sponges or dishcloths in the microwave is to super-pasteurize them. The boiling water temperature in the microwave kills most of the bacteria that would compete with and overgrow the yogurt bacteria (or make your dishwashing cloth stinky and possibly hazardous). That is the difference. For most immediate uses, you don't need to kill all the bacteria, but for long term storage (like canning) that IS what you want to accomplish. From your friendly neighborhood microbiologist!