Bone Broth

GOOD TO THE BONE

Those of you who followed yesterday's post on the importance and value of fish broth in human health and nutrition will not be surprised to learn that the subject of today's "sister-post" focuses on how to make economical, nutritious, mineral-rich bone broth. For more complete information on some of the important nutritional benefits of fish and bone broth please refer to yesterday's post on fish broth.

I like to keep a ready supply of rich gelatinous bone broth on hand for soup making and general cooking purposes.  Being a thrifty cook I save all of the left-over chicken, turkey, and meat bones, which I keep, separated and labeled, chicken, turkey, beef etc., in plastic bags in the bottom drawer of my freezer, along with all those random scraps of onion, celery, and carrot root that would ordinarily be thrown away.  I make broth fairly regularly, just started a batch this morning, from chicken bones, turkey bones, and a few chicken feet thrown in for good measure. During the holidays when I have goose, duck and pheasant on hand, I add goose, duck, and pheasant broth to my repertoire.  Goose and duck, particularly, make amazingly rich broth and delicious winter soups. Although I find the chicken broth more flavorful than beef broth, on occasion, I get grass-fed beef marrow bones from a local rancher to make beef broth.  Lamb bones make a nice rich broth that is particularly suited to curries.

When the bag of bones is burgeoning and I am ready to make a batch of bone broth I put the bones and vegetable scraps into a crock pot and fill it to the brim with filtered water.  I usually add a dash or two of apple cider vinegar to help extract the minerals.  I set the crock pot on low, and let it simmer for at least 12 to 15 hours and to upwards of 24 hours.  By the time I strain the broth it is so rich in nutrients that it congeals and becomes thick and gelatinous as it cools.

I pour the mineral-rich bone broth into pint-size Mason jars, let them cool on the kitchen counter, chill them in the fridge, then transfer to the freezer. I often pour a little broth into ice-cube trays.  I like to keep a handy little stash of broth cubes in a zip-lock freezer bag for those moments when I need a little bit broth and not a jarful.