It seems to me that in recent times, bone broth has become a buzzword in health circles. People are realizing how amazing it is for our bodies. It’s chocked full of good stuff, like collagen. You can probably do a simple Google search and find thousands of articles on the benefits of bone broth. I won’t go into that here. But there are a few things I know for sure about bone broth. It is delicious. It is easy to make. It takes recipes to the next level. It is a magical sleep aid. No joke! Grandma’s chicken soup was healing for a reason. And that reason was the bones and the broth.
To make my bone broth/chicken broth/stock, I start out with chicken bones that were butchered on our farm. We actually freeze the carcasses so I can have broth all year, not just during butchering season. (And it would be insane to make broth out of fresh chicken—we butcher about 30 in the matter of a few days. I would need like 10 crock pots.) These are already cleaned, gutted, and plucked chicken carcasses. My husband has already cut the valuable pieces of meat off. (Wings, thighs, breast, legs.)
Put two or three chickens in the crock pot. (I fit two in this picture.) I heard one time that putting the feet in the broth adds more gelatin, therefore more collagen. I tried it once, but the feet are very hard to clean and there’s a weird shell that you have to scale off and it’s kind of nasty. So I don’t like the chicken feet very much!
Next step after putting the chicken bones in: snap two or three carrots in two and throw them in. Break a stick of celery, chop up an onion-- I quartered a whole onion. Chop two cloves of garlic in two and add them. That’s the basics, and then I’ll either grab a handful of fresh or frozen spinach, fresh kale, fresh herbs, or plantain from my yard. That sounds weird, but plantain is really a great plant! And it’s very accessible because it grows everywhere. I should have used fresh kale from our winter garden in the picture, but I forgot to. So, I used some spinach from the store.
After all these veggies, just fill the crockpot up with water. Mine fit about 2 quarts. Add a splash of apple cider vinegar.
Now just turn the crock pot to low, and cook for 24 hours. That seems like a really long time. But at least the house smells like chicken soup all day! I always start my broth at night, that way it cooks through the night, through the next day, and I’ll turn it off, let it cool, and store in the fridge the next night. (I’m a productive night person.) Whenever I get a chance, I’ll either use the broth up in a few days. The best way to do it is freeze it in 2 cup portions, so you can use it later. Last time I made this broth, I used half of it in soup the next day. Homemade broth really takes soup, or other recipes that call for broth, to the next level.
Earlier, I mentioned bone broth was also a sleep aid. Again, I’m not a health professional, just a wife and mama. We love to drink bone broth (there’s a great THM recipe called Purist Primer for this drink. Yes, drink!) It puts us to sleep! It is like drinking comfort! I love it so much, that I think I’m going to make some right now.
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