Recently I’ve set off down the path of making my own broths. I have to admit that up until now I’d thought of it as a hassle and avoided it because I it was messy and time consuming – how wrong was I?! In the last 2 weeks I’ve made 2 different broths – one beef and one chicken and my new consensus is that the minimal investment in time and effort is one of the greatest you can make in terms of your kitchen as the payout is HUGE. Homemade bone broth is a culinary GAME CHANGER as well as a Nutritional GOLD MINE. The effort to return ration is akin to walking into a convenience store to buy a lottery ticket and hitting the jackpot!

The thing about broth is, by it’s very nature, it is made from the stuff that keeps our bodies functioning and recreating itself. It is a massive dose of minerals, vitamins, gut stabilizing gelatin,

Bone Broth offers:

Unsurpassed Flavour – as an already avid soup maker I am pleased to say that I have made 3 pots of different soup (Sage Butternut Squash, Mexican Tortilla and Basic Chicken “Noodle”) this week using my own broth as a base and I’m already very pleased with how much depth my soups have gained. While store bought soup stocks are fast and convenient, once I’d made my own broth I couldn’t help but wonder HOW on EARTH a factory could ever recreate this – if I let myself imagine their process vs. my own I was left with a vivid image of what a factory probably DOES to approximate a passable broth and my decision was made. Like most foods produced in a factory – broth was decisively moved to my “handmade only” list.

 

Cost Savings – On average 1 Litre of Soup Stock will run you around $4-5, depending on the quality, and if you catch a deal or not. That stock generally gives you a heaping does of Sodium, a strange does of yellow or brown to inform you of its flavour content and potentially a whole host of other things you didn’t bargain for. Depending on how you go about making your stock, you could get almost 4 Litres for next to nothing given that you can simply throw scraps of vegetables and a left over carcass or two (you’re just throwing them away anyway) into the freezer and making a stock when you have enough stuff.

 

Health Benefits – You know how whenever we’re sick we tend to want soup? Or whenever a friend gets sick we tell them to “eat some soup”? Well that all comes from a HUGE historical base and in general, when it comes to things like that, it’s some sound advice based in tradition. How could generations of loving Grans be wrong?! Well, they weren’t and here’s why. One of the functions of the skeleton, aside from holding creatures up and allowing them to move is to act as a bank for minerals and other nutrients. The center of the bone is a veritable factory of red blood cells and gelatin, both of which are of incredible value to our own bodies. By simmering bones we allow all of those minerals and nutrients to leach out into the water, thereby producing a rich source of life supporting goodies. Handmade broth is an incredible source of Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous and other trace minerals. Aside from minerals bone broths also offer things like Glucosamine, Gelatin and Chondroiton. Sound familiar? You’ve probably heard of or read of them if you’ve been interested in supplementing for arthritis or joint pain. All three are heavy hitters in this area and it is logical that we could support our own bone, joint and connective structures by taking in the very nutrients that create them.

 

Added Bonus! – Nothing beats coming home to a house that smells of a delicious broth that’s been simmering all day. There is little else that is that comforting and proves to inspires you to nourish yourself fully.

 

And so you can see just how valuable a true bone broth is; using the recipes below you can see that they are easy to include and not nearly as intimidating as you might think.  

 

**On the note of convenience – once you’ve made a stock you can portion it out into use immediately and freeze for later portions. This helps you have stock on hand for future and will keep you rolling in gold. You can also freeze it in an ice cube tray so you have stock available to use with vegetables and in sauces.

 

Beef Bone Broth

 

4 Liters of Water

3-4 Lbs Bones (Beef bones)

1 Onion, roughly chopped

2 Carrots, roughly chopped

2 Ribs Celery, roughly chopped

2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar

Sea Salt

1 Head of Garlic, each clove smashed

1” Chunk of Ginger

 

·         Pitch everything in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a very low simmer – just so you can see small bubbles coming thru.

·         Let this simmer carry on for 8 hours at least up to 24 hours.

·         Strain thru a colander and then let cool at room temperature for a bit. Once it’s cooled put it all in the fridge. A layer of fat will rise to the surface – skim this off.

·         Your broth will/should turn into a gelatinous goo. This is AWESOME-SAUCE – literally. It will turn back into a liquid once you heat it back up. You can freeze your broth in single serving containers or keep it refrigerated for 3 days.

 

Chicken Broth

 

Bones of 1 – 2 Chickens

1 Onion, roughly chopped

2 Carrots, roughly chopped

2 Ribs Celery, roughly chopped

1 Head of Garlic, each clove smashed

1” Chunk of Ginger

Enough Water to cover the whole lot

 

        Follow the same directions as above.