Bone Broth: Recuperative Food

Here in Snowdonia (and most of the UK) we are deep in snow once more even after St David’s Day.  So, we are making the most of our roast lamb or roast chicken by saving the bones and making bone broth – an economical and healthy thing to do.

We were introduced to this over Christmas and it has really helped provide warming nutrition over the cold season. It is really a variation in the time-honoured tradition of making stock from the chicken carcass or lamb knuckle to make soup the next day – something my Liverpool grandmother always did in winter, and the smell of boiling lamb bones takes me back to her small, neat, utility kitchen!

But the new health spin on this is simply to add a small amount of vinegar – say a tablespoon – to the water as you bring it to the boil and simmer, and you need not add much else in terms of onion, garlic, bay leaf unless you like.  In this way you really make the most of the goodness of the minerals, cartilage and collagen in the bones, letting it leach into the broth.  This is simmered away happily for a full day, or can be left in the slow cooker overnight, and gives a wonderful broth which can be used immediately or refrigerated for later use over the next three days.  It can be used as a base for soups, sauces, or just as it is – in the case of chicken, it tastes like the broth in Chinese chicken noodle soup.

If you have a warming mug of this after a walk in the snow, it is so delicious it feels like a hug and of course it is doing you good!  It is a useful boost to the immune system, gut health and joints particularly at this time of year, when the cold can make things a little stiff and creaky.
It is a simple enough idea made popular by the paleo diet (our Neolithic ancestors would approve) but one worth trying

We find that using good quality free range chicken, or grass fed lamb bones, makes better stock.

 If you would like a little more background on bone broth (the process and the trend has been around for a while!) here is an article from the guardian.

 https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2015/feb/09/bone-broth-the-trend-everyones-raging-about

and from bon appetit.

https://www.bonappetit.com/story/difference-between-bone-broth-and-stock.