It’s officially soup season! Most soup recipes call for a broth or stock base. Rather than spending money on store bought broth filled with excess sodium and preservatives, why not make your own for free? Hold on to vegetable peels and keep them in the freezer until you are ready to make your stock. Bones work well too, of course, and then you could always make the ever popular bone broth.
Directions:
- Save leftover vegetable peels and skins and store in the freezer (list below of which veggies work best)
- Dump all of your scraps into a slow cooker
- Cover leftover vegetables with water (my average sized slow cooker takes about 12-16 cups of water)
- Add in any additional fresh or dried herbs or garlic you have laying around along with a little salt and pepper
- Turn on low for 8 hours and let it be
- Let the mixture cool enough to handle and strain stock into jars. Leave some room at the top of the jar if you are going to freeze them for later use
That’s it! Super simple, nutritious, saves money, and reduces waste. If making bone broth ensure that you add apple cider vinegar or a similar acid so that all of those good nutrients can be leached from the bones (joint bones are best for bone broth, if possible). If making beef bone broth leave the slow cooker going for at least 24 hours—chicken bone broth takes less time. Adding vegetables into bone broth towards the end of cooking helps to add some flavour.
Best scraps for broth:
- Garlic and peels
- Onion skins and ends (remember that if you use red onion it will darken your broth)
- Leek ends
- Carrot peels
- Kale stems (be careful not to overdo it—too much cruciferous veg can leave you with a weird taste)
- Mushrooms
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