SlowSolarCooks @CooksSlow

Ótima visita no escritório do @IFAD em Brasília pelo Adilson Ribeiro, Presidente da Central da Caatinga, Bahia. Conversamos sobre possibilidades de crescimento econômico das cooperativas em Uauá, e financiamento sustentável.

Delicious carambola crumble. We are making progress with our baking experiments. Although slightly cloudy, the oven reached 140°C, and the crust was nicely golden and crunchy. We probably have to raise the pan by a centimeter in the oven to achieve the same result below.

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Here’s the bread after 4 hours of slow baking. Unfortunately the sun abandoned us after three hours, but the oven was still hot and finished the job. A few less clouds and the crust would’ve been even stronger.

This morning the solar oven is basking in the sun with a full load of bread, pumpkin, pumpkin seeds, rice and some meat. Let’s see how the sun will bake and cook it all.

The mild afternoon sun is cooking our dog’s dinner and pasteurising some milk for making yogurt. 100°C is fine for this. The yogurt can wait, but the dog can’t really.

Great meetings in Brasília by the IFAD delegation Brown/Meighan/Polastri with Moisés Savian, Secretary of Territorial Development, MDA; Tatiana Rosito, Secretary of Int’l Relations, Ministry of Finance; and Maria Laura da Rocha, Secretary General for Foreign Affairs, Itamaraty.

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Lots of carambolas are ripening in the garden, and despite our visitors we couldn’t cope with the quantity of fruit juice. So the solar oven kindly offered to pasteurize the rest, courtesy of the sun.

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This year the solar oven also got a Xmas present: a new mirror (the old one broke about 6 months ago, as the regular followers will remember). It took some woodwork to adjust the frame. Now all we need is sunshine!

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Merry Christmas! The last few days were a pain, with lots and lots of endless rain, but every now and again the sun came through, allowing us to cook meal or two.

Today we’re experimenting with caramelizing sugar. Although the oven is at its hottest, about 150°C, the sugar doesn’t melt yet.

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This morning the feather bed insulation had dried, and I could reassemble it. You can catch a rare glimpse of the opened oven from below. Now it’s back in service.

Well, yesterday morning I wrote about the rain, and in the afternoon it came. Unfortunately we had forgotten the solar oven in the garden as we went to town. So we had to rush back to rescue it. Arrived just as the downpour started, and only a little water has seeped inside.

To our relief, the rainy season has finally arrived at Brasilia, yet a small downside is that we can’t use the solar oven every day. But today is only partly cloudy, and the oven works perfectly at 120°C, and we’re preparing aubergine “alla parmigiana“.

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We upgraded the little oven by recycling a used mirror, the result is more reflection from a larger surface.

Aubergine with mushrooms and cheese. Yesterday was partly cloudy and the little oven didn’t heat up so much. Today we finished cooking it with full sun, and it worked perfectly.

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It’s a small solar oven by the NGO INTI Illimani, for one large pot. Since INTI produces the non-tropical version of the ovens, they are ideal for Europe. Here’s the first test, with beans and carrots.

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Gaby travelled from Bolivia to Germany, and brought a great present with her. The box arrived somewhat dilapidated.

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Today our solar oven baked some pão de queijo, a Brazilian delicacy (small cheese buns made of cassava starch). See for yourself how it worked!

Today’s sunshine menu includes pork sirloin with orange, ginger and honey sauce, plus rice, and broccoli soufflé for starters. The meat did about 4 hours at 100-120°C (the sun was a little weak today), but probably 3 to 3 1/2 hours would have sufficed. Truly scrumptious!

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Today’s delicious lunch: potato pastry with aubergines from our garden. Cooked carbon-free courtesy of the sun. And also worry free, as it cannot burn in the solar oven. (Note the brown grass: it’s the dry season in Brasilia).