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	En´Corps! International, Inc.
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EnCorps International Is a Non-Profit Corporation Our Mission   Our Vision   Micro- Enterprise Solar Bakeries   Solar Oven Assembly Plants   In The News   Promoting Renewable Natural Resources   Contact Us: EnCorps International (719) 481-6228 Fax: (719) 487-8243	Cooking Power From The sun As published in the AMERICAN SURVIVAL GUIDE - NOVEMBER 1999 A THOROUGH COOKING TEST OF A TRULY EFFECTIVE SOLAR OVEN By Byron Lee        It was with great anticipation and some skepticism, that I awaited the arrival of my Global Sun Oven from Sun Ovens International. Over the years I have seen many attempts at solar ovens and cookers. Many of them turned out to be poorly made novelty items that fell short of being the efficient, durable appliances that they were advertised as. I wondered if the Sun Oven would be any different.        The Sun Oven was invented by Tom Burns of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Burns first invented a solar hot water heater.  He soon realized that the need to cook food outweighed the need for hot water in a survival situation. If you could cook food, you could also heat or boil water. As a result Sun Ovens International opened for business on May 5, 1998.         When the Sun Oven arrived, and I put it through it's paces, I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, I was astonished. The Sun Oven was not a toy, but a practical, well constructed piece of equipment that was surprisingly easy to use. It quickly generated a tremendous amount of heat, and effectively cooked food in a timely manner.        The Sun Oven was something that I could keep in my survival kitchen, and use for camping, natural disasters, and electric or gas disruptions. It would store indefinitely without having to store fuel, propane, or batteries. In fact, the Sun Oven works so well that I now use it for my everyday cooking. My energy bill has gone down, my house stays cooler, and clean up is much easier. The Sun Oven will work, and work well anywhere there is sunlight.   The Global Sun Oven is about the size of a microwave oven, but only weighs a few pounds. The cooking chamber is constructed of heat absorbing metal surrounded by a composite enclosure. A swinging platform in the cooking chamber holds the food containers, and ensures that the food will remain level and heat evenly, even when the oven is placed at an extreme angle.        A wooden frame on top of the oven holds the glass oven door, rubber door seals, and door latch. Food is loaded into the oven from the top. The four solar panel unfold and fan out from the wooden frame of the oven. A built in thermometer keeps track of the oven's temperature. A positive locking leg extension is extendable from the bottom of the oven to focus the oven for early morning and late afternoon sunlight.       The Sun Oven was surprisingly simple to set up. In fact, it took me longer to read the directions than it did to actually set the oven up. To set up the oven, place it in the sun and unfold the solar panels. Move the oven so that the shadows on the ground are even on both the left and right sides of the oven. Food can now be placed in the oven, or the door can be latched to allow the oven to preheat. I prefer to preheat the oven. The oven reached an incredible 300 degrees in only 20 minutes. Food can be cooked in any kind of container, but dark colored Pyrex dishes work the best. Dishes can be cooked covered or uncovered. Cooking time is about 25 percent longer than in a conventional oven. The oven may need to be moved slightly to face the sun while cooking. That is pretty much all you need   to know to cook with the Sun Oven. Sunglasses and oven mitts are the uniform of the day. Food cooked in the Sun Oven does not burn, and does not absorb the flavor and odor of  gas, propane, charcoal,or wood.        The first task attempted with the Sun Oven was the simple heating of food taken out of the refrigerator. The first dish was roasted duck contained in an 8 by 12-inch aluminum dish, with a foil lined paper lid. This is similar to the packaging used for military "T-Pak" multi-serving entrees. The tray contained about 3 pounds of food. It only took 30 minutes for the tray to become steaming hot. The next dish heated was about 1 pound of Bar-B-Que pork. The pork was placed in an amber colored round Pyrex dish, without a lid. I found that anything cooked in the Sun Oven without a lid causes moisture to condense on the inside of the glass door. The condensation does not affect cooking, and can be easily wiped off with a paper towel when changing dishes in the oven..             The pork was fully heated in 20 minutes. These items were heated during the brightest part of the day, between noon and 2 p.m       At about 3 p.m., I decided to try my hand at actual cooking in the Sun Oven. I placed 2 cups of uncooked white rice, 4 cups of water and 5 sausages in a covered casserole dish. The food was allowed to cook until the rice had absorbed all of the water. After an hour in the Sun Oven the rice and sausage were fully cooked. And another Sun Oven surprise: the rice was tasty, had good texture, and was not sticky. The Sun Oven also cooked the rice evenly with nothing sticking to the sides or bottom of the dish. This made clean up almost enjoyable.        At 4 p.m. there was still plenty of sunlight, so I decided to do some baking in the Sun Oven. A package of chocolate cake mix was whipped up while the Sun Oven was allowed to heat.  This complete meal was prepared in the Global Sun Oven in a matter of hours. The cost of cooking fuel was a big fat zero.      An amber Pyrex baking dish was sprayed with Pam to keep the cake from sticking. The cake mix was poured into the dish, and placed uncovered into the oven when the temperature reached 350 degrees. The cake took one hour to bake and came out perfect. The outer crust was firm, and the inside was fluffy and moist. The cake dropped out of the dish without sticking, and tasted better than cake baked in a conventional oven.        The next test of the Global Sun Oven was to bake a meat loaf. Once again the oven was preheated to 300 degrees. The ingredients were mixed and placed in a Pyrex baking dish sprayed with Pam. The meat loaf was baked for one hour in an uncovered, shallow, square shaped dish. A significant amount of condensation formed on the inside of the glass door.        The meat loaf came out very good, but was a bit on the dry side. The next time I will use a covered dish to keep in moisture, or a longer, deeper dish to reduce the exposed surface area. Once again, no food stuck to the dish making clean up extremely quick and easy. An improved meat loaf recipe is included in this article.        Frying bacon in the Sun Oven turned out to be more of a challenge. The oven rapidly rose to temperature, and the pan became very hot. After an hour and a half, the bacon cooked but failed to crisp. Another drawback was that the size of the cooking platform only allowed five slices of bacon to be cooked at a time.  The oven definitely generated enough heat to fry bacon, and with some experimentation I'm sure this problem will be overcome.  Heating MREs - The Sun Oven turned out to be ideal for heating multiple MRE (Meals, Ready to Eat) entree packets.   Two entree packets were placed directly on the cooking platform of the cold Sun Oven at 5 p.m.. Within 30 minutes, the meals were extremely hot. In fact, they were much hotter than entree packets that I have heated with military MRE heaters, or boiled in water.The cooking platform is large enough that six or more MRE entree packets can be stacked and efficiently heated. The packaging of the entree packets is perfect for fully absorbing the focused sunlight in the Sun Oven.  While heating the MREs, a sustained wind of about 20 mph came up. I was curious to see how the Sun Oven would hold up in the wind. With the locking screw in place, the solar panels held up admirably and continued to keep the sunlight focused and concentrated. The main body of the Sun Oven also remained stable.        I had so much fun with my Sun Oven that I contacted the manufacturer to see if they had a bigger model. I was thinking that a backyard BBQ size Sun Oven would have some potential for my neighborhood. What I got back was information on the Villager Sun Oven .  The Villager is a turnkey operation that comes mounted on a two-wheeled utility trailer, and has propane back up.        It is a complete bakery on wheels, including a flour bin, utensils, hot pads, and mixing bowls. To give you an idea of the Villager Sun Oven's capacity, it comes with 108 bread pans, 20 cake pans, and six flat pans. The Villager Sun Oven folds up, and can be towed at freeway speeds.        The ability to make lots of pizza in the middle of a remote wilderness or desert location, with almost no overhead, makes for some interesting possibilities. The Villager can reach temperatures in excess of 500 degrees Fahrenheit. The Villager Sun Oven is so versatile that it can bake hundreds of loaves of bread a day, boil hundreds of liters of water for purification, cook anything in large and small quantities, and interestingly enough, sterilize medical instruments. All with no fuel costs, or fuel storage problems. The Villager Sun Oven would be an invaluable acquisition for any church, club, or municipal disaster preparedness unit.     The Global Sun Oven is now an integral part of my preparedness response kit. It has also become a regular part of my culinary routine. I cook with it whenever possible to save on fuel costs, keep the house cooler, and to experiment with new recipes.       A solar cookbook is also available through the manufacturer. The retail price of $229 for the Global Sun Oven is reasonable, and will soon be recouped by energy savings. Who Knows? The Villager Sun Oven is so intriguing that I may have to save up my money and try my hand at entrepreneurship.  For further information contact:    Sun Ovens International, Dept. ASG, 39W835 Midan Drive, Elburn, IL 60119;  Phone (800) 408-7919;  Fax (630) 208-7386;  e-mail: sunovens@execpc.com   Easy to Make Recipe's  Sausage and Rice  (Feeds 2-3)  2 Cups Uncooked Rice  4 Cups Water  3-5 Sausages  (Italian, Polish, Hot Links or Franks)  Combine rice and water in 2-quart casserole dish.  Place sausages on top.  Cover dish and cook in Sun Oven until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy.  The rice will pick up the flavor of the sausage.  Cooking time will be approximately 1 hour.  Recipe can be halved for a single serving.  BBQ Meat Loaf  (Feeds 4)  2 lbs. Lean Ground Beef  1/2 Cup Milk  2 Cups Bread Crumbs  1/2 Cup Minced Onions  1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce  2 Eggs  2 Teaspoons Salt  1/4 Teaspoon Pepper  Preheat Sun Oven to a least 300 degrees.  Mix ingredients together in a large bowl.  Spoon mixture into a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan sprayed with Pam.  Level top.  Spread a thin layer of BBQ sauce on top of loaf.  Bake uncovered in Sun Oven for approximately 2 hours.  Let cool for 5 minutes and pour off drippings, if any.  Invert pan on serving platter.  Meat loaf will fall out easily.  Slice and serve.

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