Health Nourishing Benefits That Come With Bone Broth

Bone broth can be made from any animal with bones. The most common of which are those of chicken, turkey, beef, lamb and venison. It is also possible with fish. It is scientifically proven that the bones have a variety of powerful nutrients in it. These nutrients become released when they are slowly simmered in water for a few hours. In fact, in other parts of Asia, they simmer bones for days.

Bone broth can supply the body with raw materials to rebuild our blood cells in the body and make these cells strong and healthy. Bone broth is considered a great healing food. It is good to have bone broth as it can help the body in encountering stress from any kind of bacterial or viral infections, digestive disorders and even leaky gut syndrome.

It has been scientifically proven that the nutrients like collagen, gelatin, glycine, proline, hyaluronic acid, chondroitin sulfate, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium derived from bone broth are very beneficial in the development of connective tissues, healthy joints, tendons, ligaments, even hair and skin. These key nutrients also enhance healing. They also help in suppressing inflammation or other auto-immune activity.

After I heard about the amazing health benefits of bone broth, I ventured out to prepare bone broth which I can use for cooking or making soups and sauces. Although I would like to point out also that when making bone broth, try to find the bones that come from humanely raised and healthy animals, especially grass-fed, organic and not fed with GMO (genetically modified organisms) grains as these grains are loaded with pesticides and chemicals. Hence, you will be consuming these toxins in the bone broth. But if one is a vegan or vegetarian, then he or she does not have anything to be concerned about.

Preparing bone broth is also an economical way of feeding a large family, as this is less expensive than the meaty part of the animal. Besides, there are so many recipes your imagination could create using bone broth. It can be combined with pasta or rice, vegetables, beans and will really stretch out one’s budget and even a week’s menu. The bonus would be having and maintaining a healthy and well-nourished body.

Below is a sample recipe my sister made using bone broth. It is also very simple. She first started out by simmering the bones for hours and added a bouquet garni comprising of Wakame seaweed (a source of Vitamin A); Astragalus root bark (used by oriental herbalist for centuries to maintain healthy blood sugar levels, treat coronary heart problems and lower blood pressure. It is also used as an overall good-health tonic to support healthy digestion and to help increase energy levels an stamina. It is also an excellent immune system booster); Flowering green oats (for nourishing the nerves,improves circulation and stabilizes blood sugar). She obtained this bouquet garni free of charge from the person she purchased the bones from. After simmering the bones for hours, she strained the broth and set aside the bones and bouquet garni and save it for future use. Once cooled, she keeps them in the refrigerator or freezer and will repeat the same method when she makes another batch of broth.

Adding vinegar or acidic wine during cooking helps to draw minerals (calcium, magnesium and potassium) from the bones into the broth.

Starting with cold water allows extraction of collagen/gelatin

Stock will reduce as you cook it, so wait to add salt until the stock is used in another recipe to avoid excessive saltiness.

The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful it will be. Longer cooking also extracts beneficial minerals and nutrients from the bones.

The key indicator of a good stock is its gelling when cooled. While it looks unusual, the stock will liquefy again when heated. The collagen/gelatin drawn from the bones is incredibly healthy and is used to treat many intestinal and blood disorders.

Use the stock as a base for soup (just add whatever is desired: rice or pasta, beans, chopped vegetables, as a substitute for water when cooking rice, or as a base for savory sauces.

Sources: Fenwood Farm, 74 Sawmill Road, Ancaster, ON L9G 3L1

This is very easy to make and a very healthy meal. The broth when simmered with the spices taste so savoury. The bouquet garni also added to the nutrients. We hardly added salt to this dish. You can also add carrots or celery to enhance the flavor and to add more nutrients.

This is also a very low-caloric meal, loaded with nutrients, and is so good for basically everything that the body needs. Men or women, young or old alike will truly benefit from any dish made with bone broth.

There are countless recipe ideas one can create with bone broth. The Chicken-Asparagus noodle soup in this artlcle is just one example.