How to Make and Use Bone Broth – Part 1

Bone broth is a bit trendy right now and lots of people are making grand claims about the miracle benefits of using it.

The Facts: Benefits of Bone Broth

1. Recent research suggests that bone broth has some minerals, but it probably isn’t a mineral miracle. Eating lots of leafy greens is a better way to up your mineral intake.
2. Bone broth most certainly contains lots of protein and amino acids that our bodies need and as such is a great way to get more protein and calories out of the animals we already raise for meat.
3. Long-boiled bone broth can be an awesome source of gelatin, and there is a good amount of evidence to suggest that gelatin has positive benefits on joint, liver, intestinal, and even mental health.

What Is Bone Broth?

Bone broth, once cool, has a consistency similar to jelly (though much tastier) and color ranging from buttery yellow to dark, golden brown
You can cut it with a knife and make a clean break.
When you put a spoon of it in a hot pan, it melts like butter.

Choosing Your Bones

To make bone broth like that, you don’t just use clean bones. You want all the grisly and fatty bits that you normally push to the side of your plate. Joints, cartilage, skin, and pretty much anything you can’t normally chew should be used.
If you process your own animals, you can also throw in heads, feet, and organs that you might not like the texture of (hearts, gizzards, kidneys).
You can use about any variety of animal bones—rabbit, chicken, duck, turkey, pig, beef, deer, fish, etc.
You can start with raw or cooked bones. Roasted bones make stock a bit more delicious. And raw bones will make more “scum” at the top of the pot when it first starts to boil. Some people skim this off. Me? I just let it cook until it blends back in.
Due to the amount of time (and probably energy) involved in making stock, saving your bones until you have enough to make a large batch of stock is a good idea. Store your leftover dinner bones and bits in the freezer until you are ready to use them.

How to Make Bone Broth

1. Put your bones to fill about half the pot and fill the rest of the pot with water. Add some vinegar (about a tablespoon per quart of water).
2. Some people add stuff like onions, carrots, and herbs to the pot which increases the nutritional content
3. Boil. To extract high quantities of goodness from bones, boil them for 8–24 hours.

To be continued

 

Ref: thegrownetwork.com