Can you sterilize water in a solar oven?
Yes. In all three types, water can be brought to a boil. A little-known fact, however, is that to make water safe to drink, it only has to be pasteurized, not sterilized. Pasteurization takes place at 65° C (150° F). This treatment kills all germs that cause disease in humans, but doesn't waste the energy needed to bring the water to a boil. One reason that people are told to boil their water is that thermometers are not readily available in many places and the boiling action serves as the temperature indicator. See also Water pasteurization.
Can you use a solar box cooker for canning?
Yes, but for fruits only! Do not can vegetables or meat in a solar box cooker, since these foods need to be canned under pressure! See also Canning.
Can you cook pasta in a solar box cooker?
To keep the pasta from getting pasty, use two pans. Heat the dry pasta with oil in one pan; heat the liquid with herbs in another. Fifteen to 20 minutes before eating, combine the two. If you are going to use a sauce, heat that in a third container.
If solar ovens are so good, why isn't everyone using one?
There are many factors at work here. First and foremost, the vast majority of the world's population does not even know that it is possible to cook with the sun. When they find out about it there is almost universal enthusiasm, especially in regions where the gathering of cooking fuel and the process of cooking over a smoky fire is a great burden. There are many factors that need to be in place to make it possible for poor people to solar cook on an on-going basis. The most successful projects have been ones where the need was the greatest, the weather the most favorable, and where the solar cooking promoters have taken a long-range approach to the transition. See also Solar cooker dissemination and cultural variables.
If you build a box cooker out of cardboard, won't it catch fire?
No. Paper burns at 451° F (233° C) and your cooker won't get that hot.
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