Fogao Solar Parabolic Cooker

Parabolic solar cooker   Parabolic Solar Cooker. The Parabolic Solar Burner is the most powerful and useful cooker in the parabolic class!The Parabolic class has the same application as your stove top at home. A parabolic is used quite differently than the box cooker or panel cooker, mainly because it reaches higher temperatures much faster than any other style cooker.Most people will use multiple solar cooker styles to accomplish a variety of cooking needs. The Cantina West Parabolic Solar Burner is the perfect addition to the solar cooking collection for those who need a stove top.A solar parabolic cooker can reach extremely high temperatures, very quickly thus producing the possibility of burning the food if left unattended for any length of time. But if used properly the parabolic will produce great cooking results and replace the need to turn on your stove top kitchen range burners.The principle difference between the solar ovens and the parabolic is that with an oven or panel cooker you can set your food out in the sun to cook and pretty much leave it. The necessity to adjust the panel and box cooker and to keep an eye on the food is much less with these types of cookers than with a parabolic.The "Solar Burner" is a full size parabolic designed for most efficient cooking results. (If a parabolic is too small in size it will not produce sufficient heat for the most effective cooking results and the opposite is true if it is too large; the heat therefore would be too intense.) The solar burner has a diameter of five feet (1.5 m), which produces a high output of energy (heat) for very efficient cooking, yet it is not too large in diameter that one would have much trouble reaching the cooking plate.  The focus point of the sun's rays comes together at about thirty inches above the middle, or bottom, of the parabola.Each of the six rigid, molded steel panels that form the parabola is covered with an adhesive backed reflective vinyl which is quite durable, yet easily repaired or replaced if ever damaged or worn. The reflective film on this solar cooker is the key, or means to the parabolic being able to concentrate the energy from the rays of the sun.The parabolic is supported by a circular stand (base) and has an easily adjusted crank extension arm to move the elevation tracking of the parabolic up and down, and the whole cooker swivels on its center pole base, allowing for side to side tracking of the sun.Unlike the solar ovens and panel cookers, there are no darkened pots that come included with the "Solar Burner" parabolic cooker, because in reality there is no need for a "special" pot or pan. A dark pot/pan will give you a little more advantage over a shiny pot, so you might darken the bottom of any shiny pot/pan with high temp bbq paint.The high temperatures of the parabolic are such that you can use shiny steel pots and pans (those that are more common) but it will give you a little more advantage if you have a dark colored pot/pan. With a parabolic it is more recommendable to use the heavier gauge steel pots, because the thinner variety will scorch and burn your food more easily, especially the thin aluminum, which is also known for health related issues and concerns.  Some Quick StatisticsShallow ParabolaFocus length 60 cm. (23.62 inches)1500 watts power on sunny dayFocus area 1.5 square meters (16.15 sq ft)Focal spot temp 1200C Diameter 1.5 meters across (4.92 ft)Height of Pot receptacle: 3ft. 2 inches from groundHeight of parabolic: 3ft. 8 in. to top of parabola from groundDaily Use We use our "Solar Burner" almost every day to fry, boil, steam and brown and re-heat many of our daily meals.Some solar cooking recipes do call for browning of meats, gravies, vegetables and such so, we will often use our parabolic to accomplish this when we are in a bit of a hurry; otherwise we will also use the solar ovens and panel cookers to do the same for many of these aforementioned foods.Frying is very easily accomplished using the "Solar Burner" because of the very high temperatures. We always use a deep pan with a lid to help minimize the splattering of oil onto the parabolic, and the same goes for when boiling potatoes, pastas and such.We have fried up French fries, fish, fry bread and other items while at the same time avoiding having to heat up and "smell up" the house with the range stove top.In the summer time we use our parabolic solar cooker to cook breakfast items such as oatmeal, cracked wheat, eggs, sausage etc. This can be accomplished as early as 8:30 AM at the Hotpoint of the summer because the sun rises so early, but come wintertime the earliest you could do so would be, probably 10:30-11:00 AM at the earliest, due to the shorter days with the sun so low on the southern horizon. (Of course you would never have this challenge if you lived near the equator)Water can be boiled very rapidly on the parabolic solar cooker, in fact just as quickly as, and even more so, than on many electric range stov