Bone Broth

For this you will need: 1 kg bones from a pasture-raised animal* 4 litres cold water 50 ml vinegar

The bones should ideally come from different parts of the animal, but whatever you have will do. The most important thing is that they come from a pasture-raised animal, to guarantee a concentration of valuable substances. Bones and bone marrow are rich in various minerals, amino acids (like proline and glycine), collagen and gelatin — very beneficial for the gut and beyond (joints, bones, teeth, skin, hair, nails, connective tissue, digestion, immune and cardiovascular system, etc.).

The water will boil for hours, so there's no need to use spring or table water — ordinary boiled and cooled tap water is fine. The proportion is: 1 kg of bones is covered with 1 gallon of water (3.785 litres).

The vinegar is needed to extract the valuable substances from the bones and marrow. Don't skip it. Use whatever vinegar you have on hand; here apple cider vinegar was used.

Extras (optional): onion and garlic, vegetables of choice. They aren't mandatory but give a nobler, more complete flavour. Here onion, garlic, carrots and Himalayan salt crystals were used; leeks, celery, etc. are also good additions. Some people even save all organic scraps (potato peels, carrot peels, etc.) in a bag in the freezer and add them to the broth — when they're organic they are extremely rich in valuable substances. Herbs and spices are added at the end, or best of all afterwards, just before consumption.

*For maximum health benefits it is essential to use clean bones, ideally from a pasture-raised animal.

You can make bone broth from different animals; the only difference is the cooking/simmering time:

• beef bones — 24-48 hours
• lamb/chicken/poultry bones — 12-24 hours
• fish bones — 8-12 hours

When making bone broth from raw beef bones, it's good to roast them in the oven for about 30 minutes for better flavour. This step isn't mandatory but improves the broth. If you roast them, place the bones and vegetables in a tray and roast for 30 minutes at 200 degrees. If using chicken bones — save those from cooked chicken and skip the roasting, as they've already been roasted.

Then transfer all ingredients to a large pot or a slow cooker and cover with the required amount of water. The bones must be completely submerged, so choose a suitable pot. Breaking the bones is easier once they've been roasted.

Turn the heat to maximum until the water boils and start skimming the broth. Foam forms only from beef bones and is much less when they're roasted and pasture-raised. If you skip the roasting, skimming will be necessary. Foam starts to appear about 1 hour after the mixture is put on the stove.

Then reduce the heat to minimum (1 or 2), just enough for a gentle simmer, cover with a lid and forget about it for 24-48 hours. After the 48th hour you can leave the broth longer, no problem. The only important thing is that it's not less than 24 hours (respectively 12 hours for chicken).

When the time is up, turn off the heat, wait for it to cool slightly (but not too much, or it will start forming a fat layer on the surface) and strain. Some people remove the fat, but leaving it seals the jars — sealed with their own fat, jars of broth last up to 6 months in the fridge without needing to be sterilised.

Pour the broth into jars, wait for them to cool a bit more and refrigerate. If there isn't enough fat to self-seal the jar, you have 2 options — store in the freezer or sterilise. Otherwise it will spoil after 4-5 days. Refrigerated broth will gel. Sometimes the broth doesn't gel — this usually means the simmering temperature was too high and the gelatin was destroyed. Such broth is still usable.

Storage rules:

• if sealed with a fat layer — 6 months in the fridge;
• if no fat — 5 days in the fridge, 6-12 months in the freezer, or sterilise if no freezer space.

IT'S IMPORTANT THAT IT SIMMERS SLOWLY.

Important! From 1 kg of bones covered with 4 litres of water and cooked in a pot on the stove you get about 2 litres of finished bone broth. So if you have a large cooking appliance you can directly double or triple the amount. With the same amount of bones and water in a slow cooker there is no liquid loss, i.e. the amount of broth is preserved.

Tip (from Bon Appétit): Let the finished broth cool slowly but safely. Hot broth can be a breeding ground for bacteria — cool it as quickly and efficiently as possible. Once you've strained out the bones, add ice and transfer it to a shallow, wide container where it will lose heat more rapidly. Don't put screaming-hot broth in the fridge.

From https://nadiapetrova.bg/bone-broth/