Abstracts Oral Presentations - Solar Food Processing Network

More documents

Recommendations

Info

International Solar Food Processing Conference 2009 About 15 year ago a group of 25 woman in San Andres startet to search for alternatives to help the economy of their familys. They learned to make the agave syrup of the aguamiel instead of pulque. In former times agaves sirup was the most important sweetener in North and Centra America. After the arrival of the Spains 500 years ago they substiute the agave sweetener for sugarcane which they brought with them from europe and startet huge plantations in Cuba an Mexico. For the woman in San Andres the production of agave sirup was succesfull and they could find a small regional market for their product. They build a small kitchen with big gas stoves where they cook the aguamiel and they bottle the agave syrup. The woman had the aguamiel and time to work - the biggest expenses were the purchase of gas for the cooking process. In 1999 the woman make some tests with the solar cooker Sk-14. They learned that its possible to concentrate the aguamiel with solar energy an that you can make the agave syrup with this "new" energy. But on the one hand the amount of aguamiel you can cook with a Sk-14 is small and on the other hand they are accustumed to cook very clean what is difficult outside the kitchen in the desert where it is very dusty. An other important fact was that the woman did not want to cook outside the kitchen in the sun. So they continued with the use of their gas stoves. In 2005 we made a new attempt with a 8m2 - Schefflerreflector and this attempt had success. After some time of testing, evaluation and providing confidence the woman decided to change to solar energy with Schefflerreflectors. The swiss organisation Globosol helped to build six 10m2 Schefflerreflectors and a new kitchen building in San Andres which was installed in 2007/2008 and starts working in august 2008. The Woman can cook each sunny day about 250 litres of aguamiel with the Schefflerreflectors. That is the average of the amount of agumiel they cook with gas in one day. It was not difficult for the woman to learn how to cook with the solar energy because the design of the Schefflerreflector allows them to cook like they habitual cook in their gas or fire stoves - all the heat is coming from downside to the cooking pot. The solar agave syrup is brighter than the syrup cooked with gas which is darker because more sugar is caramelized. The flavour of the solar agave syrup is sweeter and you can use it for cooking and sweeting without changing the original taste of the food. 16
International Solar Food Processing Conference 2009 Solar Project Gambia Elena Steger-Kassama, Solar Project Gambia, postal address, mail@solarprojectgambia.com, tel 00220-7053822/002209712915 Topic(s) addressed: Solar project examples and grass roots projects 1. Introduction The Solar Project Gambia (SPG) is a project that is trying to work as an example and an information centre concerning the direct use of the sun for cooking, baking or drying. It is producing its own solar dryer and solar cooker. It is divided into three parts the bakery, the carpentry and the restaurant. Our aim is to make solar food popular in the country and help against the deforestation. As well we inform about healthy food and want to help against the malnutrition. The project is so concepted that it works as a training and information centre concerning the use of the direct sun light. It gives 8 local people a work and income from producing solar food or equipment. Our slogan is “Solar Project Gambia cook with the power of the sun safe money and firewood!” Our service are, solar baking, solar cooking, solar drying and solar installations. The SPG is devided into three parts: Bakery Solar restaurant carpentry 2. Summary 2.1 Solar-Bakery: successes and hindrances The best example of success is the bakery and the restaurant. It’s a good practiced example how to make solar food popular. Trough our daily presentations in the street presenting delicious cakes and cookies in the solar cookers we could get a lot of people interested and curious. The bakery is an example how it is possible to generate an income with Solar baking. Our products are to be found along the coast side in different supermarkets and small shops as well we are selling along the beach side. The project is offering also a restaurant in a natural environment to serve the solar baked cakes or pastries. The project is including tourist city tours. The tours are a great opportunity for the visitors to get unforgettable memories of their holiday in Gambia and bring a small solar gift for their friends and relatives back home of the SPG. The feed backs are very positive. During this year we reached a lot. But we are facing hard times during the raining season the off season of the tourist sector. Therefore must be worked out new strategies how the project could still generate enough income for this time. 17
Page 1 and 2: International Solar Food Processing
Page 15: International Solar Food Processing
Page 49: International Solar Food Processing

Abstracts Oral Presentations - Solar Food Processing Network

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?