So here at last is my bone broth recipe for you to try yourselves at home. Bone Broth has been all the rage over the last few years with the popularity of the paleo and keto diets and probably many others. But it’s actually an old tradition that has been going for thousands of years across many cultures. It is now often used in cuisines in high end restaurants to create a depth of flavour to soups, stews and sauces.
For thousands of years bone broth has been prescribed as medicine to improve digestive health and a remedy for colds and asthma.
And if that is not enough bone broth is also full of amino acids, which are the building blocks that aid in preventing inflammation in your digestive tract and promote the growth of healthy probiotics. In addition, it’s easily digestible by your system and, unlike more complex food sources, its soothing nature promotes gut health as you easily absorb its vitamins and minerals.
Sourcing bones
So as part of my journey to get my kids back to good health, bone broth was an obvious addition to our diet. It’s also very cheap! You gather the bones free or at a minimal cost from your local butcher or leftovers from a roast dinner or meat dish. Add some water, herbs and few veggies, a drop of cider vinegar leave it on the stove or a slow cooker for 12 to 24 hours and then you have enough to last you for a week or so.
A word of warning about sourcing bones. Firstly it is important that you use bones from organically-raised, pastured or grass-fed animals. The bones collect the minerals which also have toxins from inappropriately raised and fed animals (antibiotics, gmo seeds, fertilisers etc). So you will need to make sure they are from well kept and well-fed animals. Make sure the meat is free range, organic and / or grass fed and contain no antibiotics. I always buy my meat at a good butcher which only free-range or organic and none of their meat contains antibiotics – we’re lucky that we have a good butcher nearby and also very reasonably priced. If you don;t have a good local butcher, you could get away with organic, free-range meat from a supermarket.
I’ve got into a routine with it, and I’m pleased to say it’s one of those things that is incredibly simple to do.
I make bone broth pretty much weekly or fortnightly. If any of us are under the weather, I’ll make sure we have it more often particularly in the autumn and winter months.
Boiling bones – beware of the smell.
Bone Broth
To fill a 4.5 litre crockpot.
Ingredients
- 750g bones (chicken, pork or beef)
- Filtered water to cover
- 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
- roughly chopped carrots, celery, leek, onion and garlic
- 2 bay leaves, a sprig of rosemary or thyme
Directions
- Step 1 Put any uncooked bones in a roasting tray for 10 mins on 200 C (optional)
- Step 2 When bones are cooked and cooled down, take any excess meat off them. (optional)
- Step 3 Add all bones to the crockpot so they fit nicely without popping up too much.
- Step 4 Add the filtered water until all bones are submerged
- Step 5 Put in the cider vinegar and leave the bones to soak that up for up to an hour.
- Step 6 Add in any vegetables or herbs (optional)
- Step 7 Put the crockpot in a safe place and leave on low
- Step 8 After a couple of hours, you can skim the surface of any scum that may appear.
- Step 9 Leave for a further 10 – 46 hours (depending on the combination of bones).
- Step 10 Once time is up, leave to cool slightly, then start to strain the broth into jars or containers.
- Step 11 Put in fridge for up to 1 week, or freezer for up to 3 months.
I’m Nic, a mother of 2 young children with coeliac disease and my eldest also has an egg allergy. Since the first diagnosis in December 2013, our family life has changed dramatically. Cooking, shopping, eating out, visiting friends, play dates and holidays in a family where there are multiple food related issues has been daunting to say the least. This has led me to rise to the challenge, learn fast to make sure my kids have the best nutrition they possibly can.
I invite you and your children to join me on my lifetime journey with gluten free nutritious food for all the family.
You have inspired me to buy a slow cooker crockpot. Great idea and thank you for the inspiration, my girlfriend suffers from Celiac’s so this is an amazing blog thank you.
Thanks Jonathan. A crockpot is a brilliant investment, and actually very cheap to buy – great for slow cooked stews and all sorts of other dishes too. Glad you like the blog, please let me know what food you enjoy making. Nic