There’s a South American saying that says “a good bone broth will resurrect the dead”. There’s a reason that chicken soup was given to sick people in the olden days. Let’s bring that back! You can even snap back from a cold in far fewer days with this liquid gold.
What is Bone Broth? And how is it different than stock?
When you go to the store to get bone broth, be careful what you choose. It’s important to pay attention to the labels when you buy. We want it to say “BONE” broth or stock, not just chicken stock or beef stock.
So what is the difference? Why is it so important?
Bone broth has been cooked for much longer and has a much higher concentration of collagen and other health benefits. Stock is the watered down version of bone broth. While it’s still good for your health, it’s not AS good for your health. We’re going to get on to how to make bone broth on your own, but don’t worry, you can also easily find it in stores if you know what to look for.
Bone Broth Health Benefits
- Bone broth contains valuable minerals in the easiest forms to absorb for the human body. Most people are mineral deficient!!
- Contains electrolytes: perfect for after a workout
- Build repair and maintain your skeletal system
- Provide emotional stability including lower anxiety
- Wonderful for the colder months to bring that “cozy” positive feeling
- Gorgeous skin! Healthy insides = healthy skin
- Heals the gut – actually rebuilds your gut lining
- Helps balance blood sugars
- Nourish your immune system
- Reduce inflammation
How to Make Bone Broth
There are multiple ways to make bone broth, and I’ve done two of them. I’ve had a pot simmering on the stove top for 18-24 hrs before (don’t recommend with kids), but my favorite way to do it is to use the pressure cooker. It’s so much quicker and easier!
What you’ll need:
- Bones (preferably joint bones or lots of bones, but can be done with basically any bones)
- Veggies (we save our veggie scraps from cooking like onion ends, carrot tops, etc, but you can use fresh as well)
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Water
- Pressure Cooker
1.) Put your bones and veggies in the pressure cooker.
2.) Cover the bones with water. If you have too many bones, you may need to make two batches (this typically happens after thanksgiving if you have a while turkey carcass). You want to make sure not to fill the pressure cooker more than 2/3 full.
3.) Add a splash or two of apple cider vinegar and let sit 15 min or so after mixing around to disperse the vinegar. This helps get all that good collagen out of the bones.
4.) Put your lid on & bring to high pressure. Cook at high pressure for 2 hours (3 hours for beef bones).
5.) Turn off the flame. Let the pressure reduce naturally & then release the remaining pressure.
6.) Strain your broth off the bones using a strainer.
7.) After it cools, put it into glass jars & store in the fridge or freezer. Bone broth will keep for 5-7 days in the fridge and up to 6 months in the freezer.
Where Do You Get Bones?
Ideally you would have your bones for your bone broth sourced from a local, grass-fed farm. But that’s just not feasible for some people. Something to work toward, sure. Something that’s totally necessary? No. In most areas, even urban areas, you can find a local farm to support that will deliver grass fed bones, and sometimes butchers sell them or even give them away for free!
The best bones to make hearty, jiggly bone broth are joint bones because those contain the most collagen. The more jiggly and gel-y the better! When your end product looks like jello after being cooled, you know it’s full of collagen.
You can increase the collagen content in your bone broth by adding a chicken foot! Sounds so weird right? But chicken feet are one of the most collagen filled areas and they’re extremely cheap to buy. You can usually get a whole bag of chicken feet from your local farmers market for under $5. I typically add 1-2 feet to each batch large of bone broth, so they go a long way!
Learn more Holistic Motherhood tips here.
Creative Places You Can Use Bone Broth
- Base for soups
- Base for casseroles or stews
- Add broth to smoothies (freeze in cubes for easy adding)
- Use to cook rice, oatmeal and other grains
- Pour over food to reheat
- You can even heat by itself, add some salt & have a warm cozy beverage
- Try my bone broth hot chocolate recipe
What do you think? Will you give bone broth a try?
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