On Monday, Greg and I travelled out to Sabana Larga to
complete the first of two parts of a test to determine the efficiency of a
traditional oven and the improved oven that EOS promotes and installs. We
tested a traditional oven first.
Since traditional ovens are so large, typically a lot of
baked goods are cooked in mass to take advantage of its size and the amount of
wood it takes to heat one up. Therefore, we decided to make 20lbs of baked
goods. However, we soon learned that the 20lbs is based on 20lbs of flour. In
the end, there was nearly 100lbs of ingredients that went into them. It took
over 3hrs just to prepare everything for baking. We made different types of
roskia, which are typical cookies here.
Then, it took 2.75 hours to heat up the oven and 180lbs of
wood! All the wood is placed inside the oven and lit on fire. It is allowed to
burn down to coals. Then, the coals are swept out of the oven because this is
the same place where the baked goods cook. It is incredibly hot work and a
little dangerous. The broom, which was made of green tree leaves, burned. Two
were needed to clean out the oven. Then, the oven needs to cool down a little
bit because it is actually too hot to use. People throw in leaves and if the
leaves combust and burn, the oven is too hot and will burn the food.
After all this, the cookies can then be cooked. It must be
done in a certain order because a batch process is used. The oven will be hot
for around an hour and the decreasing amount of heat must be utilized. There
were a lot of damaged goods. Some were burnt while others were accidentally
smashed with the long pole used to remove things from the oven.
There were a lot of baked goods at the end of the end of the
test, we were given a massive quantity. As a joke when we got on the bus, Greg started
to yell “Cosas de horno”, which means “things of the oven” and indicates they
are for sale. We ended up selling almost 100 Cordobas worth of goods. The money
handler was buying for everyone. Apparently, our prices were about 1 cordoba
cheaper than normal. We still had plenty left to give away to everyone in the
office and eat on it for days. Then, to top it all off, people were coming by
the office to buy baked goods also.
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| The roskia we prepared |
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| Approximately 180lbs of wood |
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| My host dad, Don Polo, stoking the coals in the oven. |
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| Goods ready to be baked |
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| Selling on the bus |
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