I know this may be an obvious one but Stock (referred to these days as “bone broth”) really is a wonder. It is full of antioxidants from all those lovely veggies, is jam packed with amino acids, collagen/gelatin and trace minerals and because it is in a light liquid this facilitates all the goodies being absorbed more efficiently into the body.
This clear liquid is wonderfully rich in collagen which is broken down by the body into amino acids which we use to reduce inflammation where ever it is most needed, so it is good for your joints, the collagen also helps your skin form elastin, improving texture and tone not to mention its cellulite reducing properties (we are talking anti-ageing ladies !!), it has gut-supportive benefits and boosts detoxification in the body. It also contains calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, the list is endless but you get my drift, it is pretty good stuff.
I have been trying to stick to having a mug of beef or chicken broth every evening before bed rather than a pudding as I wanted to break the cycle of always having a sweet treat after my meal and to give my body something nourishing to digest over night.
My usual preparation of making this stock consisted of:- devour roasted meat in usual sunday lunch fashion, take remaining meat off carcass for leftovers on Monday, rip carcass to bits and shove in large pot with all veg peelings from the peeling bin plus a few odds and ends and hey presto we have stock. Well as I was going to be taking this medicinally I thought a bit of research might be a wise idea rather than making my usual slap dash preparation and I found out that there is more to the ingredients of stock that meets they eye !! Suffice to say, it is worth going the extra mile and including all the ingredients mentioned in the recipe below, I found it was a vast improvement from my usual chuck it all in a pot method so give it a go.
Bone Broth
INGREDIENTS
1 onion, peeled
4 cloves garlic, peeled
2-3 cm chunk ginger, peeled
1 turmeric root, peeled
2 large carrots
4 sticks celery
2 tbspns apple cider vinegar
lg bunch parsley
3 bay leaves
6 black peppercorns
1 tsp sea salt
lg sprig thyme
bones of one large organic chicken or 3-4 big quality beef bones with marrow
DIRECTIONS
Rough chop all the veg. (If you buy organic there is no need to peel carrots etc..). Pop them in a generous casserole dish along with the chicken carcass (I break this up into three pieces) or beef bones. Add all the other herbs along with 2 or so litres of hot water to cover everything.
Lid on and pop it in a hot oven approx 220° for about 20-30 mins then lower the temperature to 120° for another 4 hrs or so. (If you forget to take it out and it stays in until morning it won’t be the end of the world, I prefer mine like that !). I find if you are making a beef stock it does well from staying in the oven for a good 24 hrs.
I hope this inspires you to boil up those lovely bones after your roast this weekend and savour the fruits of your labour in a mug of this golden goodness next week.
P.S. Obviously if you are a vegetarian this one is not for you, sorry guys !! You can of course do all the above minus the bones but if I am honest it isn’t so medicinal.