Bown up to date, this technique allows you to keep your food cool, without electricity, anywhere, and can become your extra summer fridge.
In summer, keeping your food cool becomes a real challenge. Between overflowing races, salads, drinks, quantity fruits … The fridge displays full. And if you have no room for a second refrigerator, or if you are looking for an extra solution on a balcony, in a garden or near a swimming pool, there is a simple and smart tip. Even better: it works without electricity. Perfect also for nomadic holidays or corners without power, this ancestral technique returns in force. We explain how to use it.
It is a simple solution, from the past, but which perfectly meets our needs today: the desert fridge, also called Zeer Pot, Canari Fridge or Pot-en-Pot. At the same time ecological, economical and mobile, it keeps food in the fridge without consuming energy, and adapts both at home and in vacation. This device experienced a new momentum in 1995 thanks to Mohammed Bah Abba, a Nigerian academic, but its roots date back to ancient Egypt and the desert regions, where it has been used for millennia.
Concretely, how does it work? The desert fridge consists of two terracotta pots of different sizes, nested one in the other and separated by a layer of wet sand. This sand allows the refrigeration of the system by evaporation: the heat contained in the inner pot is transformed into steam, which creates a natural cooling effect. The temperature can thus drop to 10 ° C less than the ambient air. For this to work, it is essential to regularly rehumidify the sand in order to maintain a stable temperature inside.
This solution, which can be used both at home and on the vacation road, is inexpensive, ecological and easy to make yourself. It protects fresh products from heat such as fruits, vegetables, eggs. In addition, it extends the shelf life and preserves vitamins and minerals.
Only limit: this system is not suitable for meat, fish or dairy products, which require lower temperatures. But for everything else, it is a natural, practical and durable alternative, perfect for summer months.
