Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Propel has nothing on Bone Broth


I recently got over a miserable gastrointestinal bug.  After three days I finely relented and went in to see the Doctor.  He told me everything I expected to hear; "Eat a BRAT diet, get plenty of fluids, especially sports drinks like Propel to replenish your electrolytes."  It wasn't until I got better that I realized what I really needed was good old fashioned bone broth.  How lucky is my husband then to get sick right after I made this realization and reap its benefits!  Bone broth can be made from the bones and leftover carcass of beef, chicken, or fish.  (I can just imagine the face my dad would make if he walked into my house while fish broth aromas were in the air)  All joking aside, bone broth really may cure what ails you, just like your great grandmother used to say. 
The process of making bone soup extracts a nutrient dense broth from the bones, cartilage, and tendons.  Bone broth is rich in easily digestible forms of vitamins and minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, and sulfur. It is rich in glucosomine and chondroitin which is essential to joint health.  Gelatin makes up a majority of the bone broth.  Gelatin is medically documented to heal the gut, aid in digestion, and improve conditions such as colitis and chron's disease. Other health benefits include improvement in anemia, diabetes, muscular dystrophy, and cancer. A lessor known health benefit of bone broth is it has been clinically correlated to the improvement of cellulite (reason enough for me to have a cup a day). 
Bone Broth or Stock used to be a staple in every kitchen.  Since the late 1940s real stocks have been replaced by chemically altered natural flavors in the form of powders, bouillons, and cartons.  There is nothing natural about the stock you are buying in the grocery store.  Food companies discovered proteins from grains and legumes could inexpensively by altered into monosodium glutamate (MSG).  MSG is recognized by your taste buds as flavorful meat.  We traded nutrition for profit and convenience.   Without bone broth the modern diet is missing an important source of minerals. MSG is a neurotoxic substance.  If you remember that chemistry course you took ages ago the term isomers may ring a bell.  MSG is the unnatural right handed form of glutamic acid and is linked to pathogenesis of the nervous system.
Now that I've bored you with a chemistry lesson here is the recipe to my "Get well soon soup."

Ingredients:
- 3 lbs grass-fed beef soup bones (farmer's markets and butcher's will practically give these away)
-4 whole carrots
-2 whole leeks
- 1 bulb of garlic
-1/2 bunch kale
-2 tbs Apple Cider Vinegar
-1 tbs whole peppercorns
-2 tsp tumeric
-8 cups water

Instructions:
1. Clean and chop carrots, leeks, and kale so they will fit well in slow cooker. (Remember you will be straining the broth in the end)
2. Peel and mince garlic
3. Add all ingredients to slow cooker on high
4. Cook on high 30 minutes
5. Turn temperature to low and let broth simmer for 24 hours (adding the vinegar will help leech the minerals into the broth)
broth strained and hot
6. Turn slow cooker off and let broth cool.
7. Strain broth and refrigerate. (Broth will be clear brown color)
8. Skim off the fat once the broth cools.  (The stock will look like a jelly when cooled)
9. Stock will keep several days in your fridge or can be frozen

Enjoy broth in other recipes as a stock or enjoy it straight up!

3 comments:

  1. Love bone broth. Definitely the perfect food when you're getting over a stomach bug! Give those enterocytes something they love :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Just made my first bone broth, thanks to your recipe. It was much easier than I thought. I am using it as stock for my roast, and also for a beef soup.

    ReplyDelete