I saw my first solar oven a year ago. My first reaction was amazement and general disbelief that a box with attached shiny reflectors could capture enough sunshine to develop a cooking temperature of 350 degrees inside the 19 inch square box and maintain it all day long by simply shifting its position to the sun every hour or so. The person demonstrating the cooking power of the sun actually cooked a five pound chicken with potatoes, onions and carrots in just one and a half hours.
Not only was it the tastiest chicken ever, it was incredibly juicy and succulent! The sun oven captures the short waves of the sun and turns them into heat energy inside the oven. The rays of the sun do not dry out the food; in addition, the carbohydrates in the food are caramelized, creating a unique taste unlike any other method of cooking. The sun oven is air tight so the moisture cannot escape allowing the food to become dry.
The second food I tasted from the solar oven was fresh baked bread. It was fantastically moist and sweet from the carmelization effects and literally melted in my mouth, along with the soft creamery butter. If I tried to describe the chocolate chip cookies, you would no doubt believe I was exaggerating their rapturous texture and sinful flavor! See I told you!
You guessed it: my wife and I bought one for our motor home, or rather two of them. On Christmas Eve we cooked a six pound chicken with carrots and onions, and in the other oven a pot of rice and corn muffins. Yes, we are hooked. At first I decided that the solar sun ovens were a practical thing to have, not only to save energy, but we would not have to run the noisy, stinky diesel generator to operate the electric oven on board the motor home. However, it wasn