ALTERNATIVE FUELS FOR COOKING

When the going gets tough, it’s back to basics!

This is the philosophy being followed at Arbor Road Estate, an eco-resort where several green practices have been implemented, setting a new benchmark in genuine sustainable living combined with the luxury of being amidst nature.

They have a Biogas plant which processes green garden waste and food waste into Biogas which is used for cooking on a regular basis.

The by-product of Biogas, an NPK rich slurry, is put back into the soil as fertilizer!

Balloon that stores the biogas

Even as trouble started brewing and the world was being threatened by LPG shortage, at Arbor Road Estate, they had already shifted bulk cooking to Wood-fire. Since the vast gardens generate a lot of dried/ dead branches, obtaining wood was not an issue.

The brown garden waste is burnt in a specialized kiln to be converted to Bio-Char. This Charcoal then makes a sustainable fuel.

Samuchit Steam Cooker is the cleanest way to use charcoal or char briquettes as a cooking fuel. This device can cook anything that is steamed or boiled, such as rice, lentils, eggs, potatoes, corn, momos, and idlis. With just about 200 g of charcoal or char briquettes, you can cook a rice-based meal for about 3-5 people. The steamer is a slow cooking device that retains the taste and nutrition of food items while saving the cook time. 

Assemble the cooker, start the fire, and then go away to do other chores or just relax! The food (up to three items at a time like lentils, rice, and vegetables/meat) cooks in about 45 minutes to an hour and stays warm for up to 2 hours. You can also cook a one-dish meal like a pulao or a biryani directly in the cooker pot. The fuel will burn out in about 30 minutes; the rest of the cooking and warming is done with the steam generated in the cooker.

Therefore, there is no risk of overcooking the food. 

While the device is designed for maximum energy efficiency and minimum harmful pollution, it becomes climate-friendly if the fuel used is 'renewable', such as the Bio-Char.

Samuchit Steam Cooker

Then there is the magnificent energy of the sun, harnessed into solar cooking. The parabolic solar cooker concentrates sunlight to one point where the temperature rises upto 110-130 deg Celsius and food can be cooked.

The Green Kitchen Contact List 

Samuchit Enviro Tech — The steam cooker is available in different sizes, a Jumbo version is available that suits the requirements of a crèche, a small school or a roadside eatery. They can be contacted for the Bio-Char Kiln as well.(9226894206;  www.samuchit.com)

Vaayu Biogas  – they customise solutions as per capacity from handling waste from a single household to large industrial kitchens

(8956587944; www.vaayubiogas.com)

Orja Box– they make Parabolic small and large cookers as well as compact box cookers suitable for a small family

(9422567442; www.orjabox.com)

GREEN FACTS

* Fossil fuels are dead lifeforms from millions of years ago, that got buried under mud and chemically transformed into coal and petroleum.

* With an estimated lifespan of about 15 years, a solar cooker, over its lifetime, cooks more than 1.7 lac meals and the reduction in carbon emission is equivalent to saving about 2800 trees.