“Bone broth?! What is the world is THAT?” I asked incredulously. I was baffled. How was this any different than regular broth or stock that I purchased from the store? And why was it so important to drink bone broth regularly?
If you’re new on your real-food journey, you might be wondering the same thing I was just a couple of years ago. This former Sprite-drinking, Trix-loving, microwave popcorn-snacking, raw cookie dough-loving girl has come a long way in just a few short years!
If I can learn how to incorporate healing foods into my diet, you can too! Skip nutrient depleted store-bought broth that’s filled with MSG and other additives and make your own nourishing broth.
What is Bone Broth?
Do you remember your grandma always savingthe turkey carcass after Thanksgiving, placingit in hot water with some veggies, and making some sort of soup with in the days following Thanksgiving? Or maybe after your family ate a whole chicken, your mom saved the chicken carcass and make chicken noodle soup with it.
This is bone broth. It can be made with the bones from any animal. Our family tends to make broth from beef bones, primarily because that’s what we typically have in the freezer.
We don’t let any part of that cow go to waste! When we order our grass-fed cow from the farmer, we ask for it all—meat, bones, organ meat, and fat. The farmer I order from thinks I’m a little nuts, but after ordering from him for a few years now I think he has accepted my crazy ways because my cash is still green. 🙂
If you’re looking for a good source of grass-fed meat, Butcher box has high-quality meat that they will deliver right to your door. If you use this link to Butcher Box, you can get FREE meat in your first box!!
Why Drink Bone Broth?
As it turns out, chicken noodle soup might be just what the doctor ordered. Bone broth is a fabulous addition to a healthy diet. When you make bone broth from the bones of a healthy animal it can offer a surprising number of benefits.
Side Note: What is a healthy animal? It’s an animalthat has been raised on healthy food, allowed to free-range, not injected with hormones, antibiotics and other nasties. We talked about healthy beef in this article, but most of the concepts apply to other animals as well.
For years, scientists have known bone broth provides the body with numerous health benefits (too numerous to list all of them here). Minerals such as calcium, magnesium, phosphors, silicone, and sulfur are plentiful in bone broth.
- The collagenin bone broth improves your skin, hair, and nails.
- Gelatin is good for gut health(something I’ve personally really been focusing on over the past year). Many individuals in the US suffer from hyperpermiability of the gut (also known as leaky gut). The gelatin helps to fix the leaks and aids in digestion. In fact, the best bone broth will contain enough natural gelatin to set up like Jello when it cools in the refrigerator.
- For joint pain, it seems everyone is buying glucosamine at the store. Glucosamine is naturally occurring in bone broth. Skip the expensive supplements and drink a cup of bone broth every day to help with your join pain and arthritis.
Bone broth impacts digestion, allergies, immune health, brain health, and much, much more.
5 from 1 vote
Easy, Crock-Pot Bone Broth Recipe
Not only is bone broth an excellent addition to your diet, it’s easy and cheap to make. Can’t get much better than that!
Author: Trisha Gilkerson
Ingredients
- 2 + pounds of quality bones
- 2 Tablespoons vineger
- Scraps & trimmings from carrot garlic, onions, celery
- Sea salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
- Enough water to completely cover the bones
Instructions
Brown any meaty bones you might be using for the bone broth. You can do this either on top of the stove or in the oven.
After browning your meat, place the bones in your crock pot along with the remaining ingredients.
Let your crock-pot sit and simmer for 24 – 72 hours.
Strain your bone broth.
STOP! Don't throw away your bones.
Save the bones and decide how you want to store your broth, if you're not using it immediately. If you will be using it soon, store the broth in the refrigerator. If you’d like to save the broth for later use, freeze the broth.
You can make multiple batches of bone broth out of each batch of bones. I usually make at least 4 batches, sometimes more! Continue to use the bones until they disintegrate or you don’t want to make any more broth.
Notes on Bone Broth:
I usually make beef broth, but you can make broth from bones of any other animal you have on hand. We purchase 1/2 of a grass-fed cowat a time and always request soup bones. Remember, the healthier the animal, the better quality broth you will get.
Before making my broth to store, I typically brown my meaty bones on the stove and use stew meat and vegetables to make stew with my first batch of bone broth. If you choose to do this, be sure to remove and save your bones after your stew is finished so you can continue to pull the nutrients out of the bones.
Often, I save some broth in the refrigerator to be used in the next few days. With the remainder I use ice cube trays to freeze my broth. This way I can grab just 1 or 2 cubes if I want to use the broth when steaming veggies, or I can get a bunch out for soup or a healthy warm drink.
Use your bone broth in soups, stews, gravies, to steam or saute veggies, or just drink cups of bone broth each day for added health benefits.
When You Can’t Make It Yourself…
When I’m short on time or I can’t get access to bones from grass-fed animals, I buy my broth from Kettle & Fire. We absolutelylove their broth.
- First, they use organic chicken and cow bones from small family farms that don’t use any hormones or antibiotics. Plus, they only use the bone with the highest collagen content.
- They don’t add any artificial ingredients or preservatives—just filtered water, organic veggies, sea salt, and herbs. Because of the special way they package their broth, no additives, additional sodium, or preservatives are needed!
- Best of all, their broth is tasty—tastier than any chicken or beef stock you might use.
Check out their special offers and learn how you can get this broth shipped right to your door.
