As the others have said, it's not so much the heat you need, but the ventilation. Laying out the apricots on a window screen in the sun will dry them faster at 80 degrees than in a closed solar cooker at 350! I have yet to build a solar oven or solar dehydrator, so I use the window screen method. Depending on the weather and the particular food, this takes a few to several days. Your setup should work well if you provide some vents that you can open in the bottom and top of the oven. This will vent out the moisture and prevent the fruits from cooking.

The cooking temp often winds up being 25-50 degrees lower than I would use with my regular oven. It doesn't affect how things bake, except that it does take a little bit longer at a lower temperature. The other day my quick bread took about an hour and a half at 300-325 degrees. Clouds coming and going can cause the temp to fall slightly lower. If one fails to move the solar oven, as the angle of the sun changes, the temp will fall. The reflectors need to be facing the sun. In full sun, 350 degrees F is reached in 10-15 minutes. You can't leave things to cook on their own, like you can with a crock pot. A solar oven does have to be monitored. If I roast a four pound chicken, I have to change the angle of the oven to match the angle of the sun once during the cooking process (about 1-3/4s hours). Which means pivoting the oven a little bit, so that it is fully facing the sun. I've cooked pots of beans, roasted all types of meats, roasted vegetables, baked cakes, sweet breads and brownies, and simmered soups and stews in my solar oven. I wish the interior space was a bit larger than it is. They come in more sizes now. (I've had mine for awhile.) You might want to do a search on solar ovens for the heck of it. You can also find instrucitons for how to build your own. Lorna

ive never tried to post a video or a link before. i hope i can delete this if it doesnt work. if your reading this and theres no link or video,im sorry . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpyggANIPdc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeA3C9lZL2E&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcJvZ47UlWs&feature=relmfu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXlyo2pkJHQ&feature=relmfu

They can easily be made and you'll find lots of how-tos if you search it. Everything from a simple pizza box to any number of other models and sizes. You'll also find lots of recipes on-line. I bought my solar ovens. I'm a gadget person (LOL)! Be sure to check prices, they vary greatly for the same types and models. For anyone in the U.S. who watched the Ed Begley, Jr. show on HGTV "Living With Ed", he used one of the models I use - a Global Sun Oven. This one is tall enough inside to bake a loaf of bread. It has a self-leveling swinging shelf so you can pretty-well get cakes level. The other is a hybrid - the Tulsi-Hybrid Solar Cooking Oven. This one has an electric back-up as a safety feature. If the temperature falls to an unsafe cooking temperature, it will use electricity (if it's plugged in and set to come on) to bring the temperature back up to a safe level. You can also use this model without the sun using electric power. So it's versatile. It's similar in size to a small hardcase suitcase. You'll find many people on the missionary field use these solar ovens because you can pack everything you need in them for easy transport. I'd recommend the book, "Cooking with the Sun" by Beth Halacy and Dan Halacy, which includes building instructions as well as recipes. -Nearly anything you can cook/bake in a conventional oven you can make in a Solar Oven. They can reach temperatures between 350-400°F. Exceptions - avoid recipes like pies with a bottom crust - they tend to get soggy and pasta can be tricky. -The oven needs to be preheated (approx. 30 minutes) before adding food. -They work best between 9:00 a.m. and 4 p.m. -Your traditional oven is bottom heated. The solar oven is heated from the top and the sides. -Slow-Cooker recipes work well in a solar oven. -You need to use dark, thin, cookware. Dark enamelware works great! Forget thick crockery or cast iron. You can also use glass canning jars. Just paint the outside of the jars black with heat-resistant paint designed to be used to repaint gas grills. You can heat water in the quart jars as well as cook in them. -Foods that are easy to cook 1-2 hours: eggs, rice, fruit, (above ground) vegetables, fish, chicken -Medium cooking times 3-4 hours: potatoes and other root vegetables, some beans, lentils, most meat, bread -Hardest to cook, 5-8 hours: large roast, soup and stew, most dried beans -You need to move the oven to follow the sun, shifting the oven every 30-minutes to 1-hour. An oven thermometer is used to check the temperature. You can adjust the temperature several ways, including placing the oven off axis. -I have a pair of Kevlar oven gloves ("OVE" Glove) that I use instead of hot pads for working in the solar ovens. With the gloves you have all your fingers and thumbs to use. Hot pads or mits can be cumbersome. -Wear a visor and/or sunglasses when working with the solar oven to protect your eyes from glare. -Release the built-up steam occasionally while cooking. -You can cook eggs in their shell WITHOUT water in about 30 minutes. -Solar ovens can be used to pasteurize water (on a sunny day - 4 litres water in approx. 4 hours. -I have my ovens on a metal shop cart on wheels and move them from the garage to the patio and cook on the top of the cart. I use a heat resistant tray (or jellyroll sheet) for transporting hot foods from the oven to the house. -You need to plan carefully. You need to cook while the sun is high and hot. If it's hazy, even if it's sunny and no clouds, you may not be able to reach high temperatures. When they burn the wheat fields around here I can't use the solar oven because of the haze in the atmosphere. Thankfully, that's only for a week or so. There's probably lots more I'm not covering... -Grainlady