These days bone broth is the new superfood of the moment for its health benefits. Yet, only a couple of generations ago, our grandmothers made their broth this way and the delicious broth was a basis for soups, stews and other dishes for its depth of flavour.

This recipe uses marrow bones that are baked and browned and then added to vegetables and slow cooked for 12 hours or as long as you like to develop the rich brown colour and depth rich flavour. Once made you will never buy mass produced stock again. All you will need is a slow cooker or simmer on the stove top in a large stock pot.

Choose marrow bones from beef or lamb but you can also use chicken, pork or any large bones. You can can buy them specially but an economic way is to use the bones from your next roast, like a leg of lamb or the carcass of a roast chicken. In this way you are making the most of all the health benefits of what you cook and the step of roasting the bones will have already been done.

Use a mix of small bones for their gelatinous qualities and the larger bones for the greater amount of bone marrow. Each of these has its health benefits. The addition of 2 tablespoons of Apple Cider vinegar helps to extract minerals from the bones into the soup.

Make a Healthy Bone Broth

Ingredients:

• 1kg of fresh marrow bones or bones from a roast dinner with the meat trimmed but you can leave the bits of meat that cling to it for extra flavour.
• 2 large carrots,peeled and coarsley chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, coarsely chopped
• 2 large potatoes,peeled and cut into quarters
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 small bunch of parsley
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• olive oil
• salt
• black peppercorns
• 2 Tblsp apple cider vinegar
• 2 1/2  L water

Method:

1. Pre heat oven to 200º C
2. Take a large baking pan and drizzle over olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan
3. Place fresh bones in the pan and drizzle olive oil over rubbing them well to ensure they are well covered with the oil.
4. Cover the dish well foil
5. Place baking dish in the oven and bake for 1 hour. When cooked, the bones should be well browned.
6. While they are baking, prepare the vegetables by peeling and chopping them roughly
7. Tie the parsley, rosemay sprig and bay leaf into a small bunch
8. In a large broad frypan add 2 Tbslp of olive oil and a knob of butter.
9. Heat the oli over a medium-low heat and then add the chopped, onion, celery and carrot , cover and cook for 8-10 minutes or until the onion is translucent and the vegetetables have coloured
10. When the bones are cooked place them in the slow cooker. If you have bones reserved from a baked dinner you can use them now
11. Add the cooked vegetables, potato, peppercorns, bay leaf, spig of rosemary, parsley
12. Cover with enough of the water to cover everythin in the slow cooker being careful not to over fill the cooker
13. Add 3/4 teaspoon of salt
14. Cover, set on low and cook for at least 12 hours or as long as 20 hours, ensuring that you check the water level if some evaporation occurs by adding a little more. Alternatively if you do not have enough time cook on high for 6 hours. However, if you can, long slow cooking gives the best results.
15. Skim the broth with a slotted spoon if some scum comes to the surface from the bones
16. When finished cooking taste and adjust for seasoning and use a slotted spoon to remove the vegetables and other spices from the broth.( These can be mashed and added to some of the broth to make another soup)
17. When finished, cool the broth and put though a sieve to remove everything and leave a clear broth
18. When cold enough put in the refrigerator
19. The next day you can then remove the congealed layer of fat that will form from the top of the broth with a slotted spoon.

This broth may become gelatinous when cold depending on the quantity and type of bones used but it will become liquid again when heated.

Use this broth when someone has the flu as a healthy broth with small soup pasta or with croutons as a light and nourishing meal.

Use this broth anywhere you need to add stock and see the good flavour it will add to your dishes. It keeps in the refrigerator for a week or you can freeze portions in the freezer for 3 months.

Now when you have bones from a roast think about saving them and making this useful, versitile and nourishing broth.

Growing your ingredients:

  Growing Carrots