Of all the households in the US, 99.5% have refrigerators. About the same percentage have some way of heating food. We've seen some great gadgets for keeping things hot and cold here on Slashfood, but I want to show you an ancient technique for keeping food cool. It's called a zeer pot. The vessel itself may be third world, but it's playing a timely role in the continuing recovery of northern Darfur and other African nations. Science in Africa magazine states that a zeer can keep tomatoes edible for 20 days, as opposed to two, and meat two weeks, as opposed to a few hours.
A zeer pot is quite simple. It's basically two large earthen pots, one nested in the other. The space is filled with sand and water is added. A damp cloth covers the top. As the water evaporates, the inner pot containing the perishables is kept cool in the same manner that a mechanical refrigerator operates -- water evaporation draws heat from the inner vessel. Water is added twice a day.
Muhammed Bah Abba is credited with reviving (some say inventing) use of the zeer and has his own instructions on theory, application and making one. I am going to make one of these myself and see how long basic vegetables will keep at room temp. You can see from the picture how easy it would be to improvise a zeer with regular flower pots. I will then give it a taste test after one week.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-28-2006 @ 11:47AM
peggy said...
wow, i live the idea of a low tech fridge. i guess that's the survivalist comong out in me.
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9-28-2006 @ 11:52AM
MJ said...
Now this is quite interesting. We call them third world! See how long we last without the everyday comforts we take for granted.this would be great for veggies! they dont last long in the fridge. And it is a sin to me to put a tomato in the fridge. Not unless you want a tasteless watery glob. Someone needs to list what veggies to fridge and what not to. I put onions in fridge so I dont cry! this works
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9-28-2006 @ 1:31PM
Ron Evans said...
When I was young and used to go on hunting trips to remote areas for a few days at a time, we had a similar low tech way of keeping food cool. We had a tin box, possibly six or so cubic feet, that was covered with two or three wraps of burlap (old potato sacks). The box was filled with food (and beer of course) and placed at the edge of a creek. The burlap surrounding the box was well soaked. The end of the long piece of burlap that surrounded the box was placed in the creek so the box would be continually kept wet through capillary action. If the weather was extremely hot, every couple of hours, the burlap on the box would be soaked with water. The evaporation of the water keep the food good for several days and the beer cold enough until you didn't care if the beer was cold or hot.
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9-28-2006 @ 3:41PM
Zeke said...
Ron Evans,
Why didn't you just put it in the creek with a rope?
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9-28-2006 @ 4:17PM
Ron Evans said...
Zeke - The evaporation of water from the sacks surrounding the tin box keeps the contents cooler than the temperature of the creek.
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9-29-2006 @ 5:25AM
Alyx said...
In the 1960s, my family lived in rural (very rural) Dorset, with no fridge, and we used a similar method to keep butter and milk cool. Unglazed earthenware covers went over the bottle or butterdish, with the whole stood in a dish of water, so that evaporation from the earthenware cover kept the contents cool. They were quite effective, as I recall.
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9-29-2006 @ 3:19PM
DK said...
In Arizona during the depression the same technique was used to keep food fresh. It is the same method that "evaporative coolers" or "swamp coolers" use to cool homes in desert areas without humidity. It is a great system and should be promoted for every one's use as an alternative to expensive air conditioning which burns resources.
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9-30-2006 @ 2:42PM
SCSthrnBell said...
All I can say is Thank God for modern technology and the ability to pay for it! I could survive with no microwave, but I couldn't do it without a fridge. Nope, no way, don't want to try.
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