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Sunday, March 16, 2014

HERC Oven Review

Ever since I saw this at www.titanreadywater.com I was hooked on the idea of an oven powered by tea light candles.

I received mine last week and Saturday was the day for experimenting. It arrived in a heavy, but compact box. The assembly instructions were clear and easy to follow. I had one tab that had a piece of excess metal, but a quick twist with a pair of pliers took that off. Peeling off the laser guard plastic from each piece was tedious, yet knowing it was a one-time job made it less irksome.

Fully assembled oven
Tea lights ready to slide under
 I decided to start easy with corn muffins. While these took a bit longer to bake than in the electric oven, there was no difference in taste, texture or appearance.


I had more trouble with the bread. In hindsight I realize that I shouldn't have baked both loaves together. The combination of the heavy stoneware pans and being angled to fit both in trapped the heat at the bottom and left the top undercooked. Of course, the chickens were thrilled with my mistake.


After it cooled off, I dismantled and put it into the carry bag provided.


My son thought it would be nice to have rounded edges on the bottom to make it easier to carry, but I'm not so sure. If it did it wouldn't be as stackable when put away.

Conclusion: I'm very happy to have this. Most of the year a sun oven would be useless here so this is a great alternative if the power is out. I will definitely do more experimenting when I have free time.

2 comments:

Leigh said...

I've never heard of such a thing! How interesting. Sounds similar to using an electric toaster oven, but of course without the electricity!

I would love to do solar cooking, but like you, it would be iffy. Last summer we had so much rain and so many cloudy days that there was very little sun for anything. The cooler temps were appreciated, however. :)

Tanya. said...

I've never heard of one of these. A sun oven would be pretty much useless to me too. Do you use a lot of tea lights?? I have a gas stove so don't have to worry about the power going out. Was the oven expensive?? where did you get it from??