To date, green juices and smoothies have been the healthy It beverage, but if you haven’t heard, there’s a hot new healthy beverage in town, and if you want to get your hands on some all you have to do is get friendly with your local butcher!
Healthy living enthusiasts, fitness fanatics and wellness buffs – I’d like to introduce you to: Bone broth!
Last week I posted an Instagram pic of my homemade bone broth and quite a few of you wanted to know more, which is why I decided to share this post. If you’ve never heard of bone broth, you might also know it as broth or stock. However, when you get down to the bare bones of it all *chuckle* all broth is made with bones, with the exception of veggie broth. That said, bone broth is very popular among Paleo-ers like myself, and since the beginning of time, our caveman ancestors have been eating bone broth because it’s a super cool super-food that offers tons of health benefits, like the following:
- Gives you gorgeous hair, skin and nails.
Bone broth is rich in collagen and gelatin, both key nutrients for growing healthy hair, skin and nails.
- Helps heal a leaky gut.
The gelatin in bone broth also helps promote healthy digestion by protecting and healing the mucous lining of the digestive tract.
- Fights colds and flu.
A study published in the journal Chest showed chicken soup (aka chicken broth) can help in curing respiratory infections by alleviating flu and cold symptoms.
- Helps strengthen bones.
Bone broth is rich in calcium, magnesium and phosphorus – all key minerals for strong, healthy bones.
- Reduces joint pain and inflammation.
Bone broth is rich in glucosamine, as well as the anti-inflammatory amino acids glycine and proline, which can help stimulate the growth of new collagen, repair damaged joints and reduce pain and inflammation.
- Is super easy and cheap to make.
With so many health benefits, one would think that bone broth would be a pricey food to add to your healthy eating repertoire. But that’s far from the case! For homemade bone broth all you actually need is a crockpot, a few bucks and some water.
When making bone broth you can go via the stovetop method, or you can use the oven. And most important, you’ll want to use bones from healthy, organically or pasture-raised animals, which tend to have more mineral and nutrient-dense bones that will ultimately make for a very healthful bone broth.
Now for the recipe!
Basic Bone Broth Recipe
(adapted from Balanced Bites)
This recipe make approximately 64oz of broth depending on how much water you initially add and how much you reduce the broth as you cook it.
Click here for estimated nutrition facts.
Ingredients
- 4 quarts of filtered water
- 5- 2 lbs of beef knuckle bones or marrow bones(or any other kinds of bones – especially oxtail, which lends added gelatin and a delicious flavor). Chicken necks are inexpensive and also work great.
- the cloves from 1 whole head of fresh garlic, peeled & smashed
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (I prefer organic, unfiltered ACV like Bragg’s brand)
- 1Tsp unrefined sea salt – add more/less to taste
Preparation
- Place all ingredients in a crockpot and set the heat to HIGH.
- Bring the stock to a boil, then reduce the heat setting to LOW.
- Allow the stock to cook for a minimum of 8 hours and up to 24 hours. The longer it cooks, the better!
- Turn off the crockpot and allow the stock to cool.
- Strain the stock through a fine mesh metal strainer and throw away what you skim off.
- Place the cooled stock into glass jars for storage in the fridge (for up to a few days) or pour into freezer-safe containers for later use.
- When the broth is fully cooled, look for a gelatinous consistency. That means your broth is gelatin-rich. At t9imes, a longer or very hot simmer may break down the gelatin and your broth won’t appear gelatinous. Don’t worry if that happens to your broth, all the good stuff is still in there. Also, feel free to skim off and cook with any solidified fat (aka “tallow”) that has risen to the top of your broth.
Once prepared, bone broth can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to six months.
And that’s all folks! See, making bone broth is very simple. And it’s really nothing short of amazing how much healthy goodness you’ll give your body from such a simple recipe with simple ingredients.
Enjoy!
Is bone broth one of your healthy eating staples? Share your bone broth recipe in the comments! – Doc