Making Bone Broth
Bone broth is crucial for soothing and healing the lining of the gut. Broth provides key nutrients in an easily digestible form, while also stimulating gall bladder function and assisting in strengthening soft tissue and bones. For the best results, broth should be consumed daily. It can be taken on its own with a meal or it can be used to cook meat or vegetables in. You can also add it to soups to enhance flavour. If you’re working through the GAPS nutritional protocol or making changes to your diet, it is best to incorporate broth into your kitchen routine as soon as you can.
Broth is best made at home as store bought broth tends to pale in comparison and in most cases will not be effective in providing the necessary nutrients in sufficient quantities to get the desired health benefits. There are various ways of making broth so feel free to experiment with different methods to find the method that you most prefer. We have shared some methods with you below.
Broth from Cooked Bones With or Without Meat
Ingredients:
– Bones from an animal with or without meat – whole chicken, chicken wings, backs, “soup bones”, ribs, roast chicken etc. (as a guide, it would be best to use 1-2 chicken carcasses)
– 1/4 cup of Coral Tree Apple cider Vinegar (or similar strength apple cider vinegar)
– Vegetables can be added for flavour if you wish – classic soup veges are celery, carrot, onion (onion peel gives chicken stock it’s yellow colour)
– Filtered water (preferable, but if not available just use what you usually drink)
– Kelp Salt (Pacific Harvest) – 1 tspn of kelp salt is a great way of adding additional iodine into your broth
Method:
- Place the carcasses into a large stock pot and cover them with filtered water. You can fill the water to the top of the pot, but keep in mind this will affect concentration so this should be done according to your preference.
- Add apple cider vinegar to the pot (this helps remove minerals from the bones).
- Let the pot sit at room temperature for 30-60mins.
- Bring the pot to a boil and remove any scum that rises to the top.
- Turn the temperature down so the water is just lightly simmering (just steaming or some light bubbles is fine) and put the lid on.
- Regularly check the broth to ensure it is simmering at a good temperature. Also ensure that there is always enough water to cover the bones.
- Cook for up to 12-48hrs for chicken, or up to 72 hours for beef, lamb or pork. If you are cooking meaty bones then it is best to check the meat after a couple of hours and remove the well cooked meat as the meat tends to become tasteless if left to cook too long. Many people find their broth tastes much nicer with a bit of raw meat left on the bones so this is something to try.
- The longer the cooking time, the more flavour there will be and the more nutrients are extracted from the bones. Once your broth is finished cooking, let it cool a bit, then strain it (while still warm) into another pot to remove the bones. The liquid should be pretty clear depending on how fine your strainer is. Some people like to feed the bones to their pets as they should be very soft after cooking for so long. If there is any marrow in the bones it is worth eating this as it is packed with nutrients.
- Pour the broth into heat-safe containers and store in the fridge. Store anything you won’t eat within 5 days in the freezer.
- The broth should be firm and gelatinous (once refrigerated) if done correctly. Celtic sea salt and pepper can be added for additional flavour when serving the broth to eat/drink.
- The fat on the top can be used for cooking with and a portion of it can be left in the broth to add valuable animal fat and to aid flavour. If you prefer to leave all of the fat in the broth to drink each time, then ensure you are digesting the fat well. Some people (particularly people who have liver or gall bladder dysfunction or have had a low fat diet previously) need to gradually increase their animal fat intake in food so as to allow the gall bladder time to adapt.
