Stocks and Broths

Broths, Stocks and Bone Broth

What are they and why they are good for us

Broth is typically made with a small amount of bones and or meat and simmered for a short period of time (45 minutes to 2 hours). It is very light in flavor.

Chicken Stock  is typically made with bones and can contain a small amount of meat. Stock is typically simmered for a moderate amount of time (3 to 4 hours). Stock is rich in minerals and gelatin.  Can be all vegetarian too.

Vegetable Stock starts with a classic base of chopped up onion, carrot, celery, and fennel. You can also add a whole garlic head, ginger, parsnips. Unlike chicken stock, which needs time to extract all the flavor and nutrients, vegetable stock needs to simmer the stock for only one hour.

Bone Broth is typically made with bones and can contain a small amount of meat. Bone broths are typically simmered up to 24 hours (2 hours in a pressure cooker). This long cooking time helps to remove as many minerals and nutrients as possible from the bones. At the end of cooking, so many minerals have leached from the bones and into the broth that the bones should crumble when pressed lightly between your thumb and forefinger.

Benefits of Bone Broth

Bone broth is rich in vitamins and nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorous and gelatin (collagen). Making bone broth from connective tissue into bone broth provides the body with natural compounds from the cartilage, which provides the body with amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.

Supports hair, skin  and nails, glucosamine and chondroitin, natural compounds found in cartilage that are known to support joint and skin health. Contains collagen, which turns into gelatin when cooked and yields several important amino acids

May help fight osteoarthritis, high in collagen

Reduces inflammation, amino acids including glycine and arginine, have strong anti-inflammatory effects

Helps heals the gut, protect and heal the mucosal lining of the digestive tract, bone broth easy to digest, it may also aid in the digestion of other foods.

Sleep aid, amino acid glycine, found in bone broth, may help you relax. Multiple studies have found that glycine helps promote sleep

May help support weight loss, very low in calories, but can still satisfy hunger, contains gelatin, which has specifically been shown to promote feelings of fullness

Provides necessary amino acids hard to get from diet alone: Proline, Glycine, Arginine, Gluteamine

Other Uses

Replace water with bone broth in other dishes

Provides additional flavor for gravies and sauces

Use in soups, stews and braises