Everything You Need To Know About Bone Broth
One of the best ways to use the odds and ends of a harvest is to make an age-old healing remedy: bone broth.
While newcomers to the term might shudder at the notion of drinking an elixir with such corporeal associations, bone broth has undergone a renaissance in recent years, and now this age-old healing tradition is being touted by everyone from skin gurus and beauty experts to holistic nutrition figureheads and celebrity chefs.
The health benefits of bone broth are well documented. Besides the obvious health benefits of any broth– that is, that drinking a hot, saline liquid can help stave off cold and flu– skin experts also point to the fact that bone broth helps fill out wrinkles and mitigate cellulite, while integrative health experts note the numerous supported claims that bone broth can help sooth aching joints and nurture gut flora back to health. The healing benefits are so profound, in fact, that there’s an old South American proverb that says “broth can heal the dead”. In the new millennium, broth is a famed elixir in the sports world– bone broth is one of the three pillars of the Los Angeles Lakers’ team diet.
The best part about making bone broth, too, is that it’s virtually impossible to mess up. Simple boil the bones of your next chicken or spare rib dinner with a few root vegetable and some salt, and allow to simmer on the stove stop for at least an hour after it hits a boil. Mineral-based nutrients like calcium, prosperous, and magnesium are rendered more bioavailable throughout the cook process: which is to say, the longer it simmers, the better and more nourishing the broth becomes– just be advised that the broth will be a bit cloudier in those instances.
Beef broth typically pairs well with superfoods with sharp flavors like ginger and turmeric– and we recommend using grass-fed, organic beef to get the most vital nutrients into the stock. (Organic, pastured chicken bones also work well.)
If you don’t have time to make bone broth yourself, there are also number of bone-broth delivery services popping up around the country. In New York, we like The Brothery and Indie Fresh, but there are up-and-coming broth purveyors in other U.S. cities, most notably Soupure and Cold & Thirsty in Los Angeles, or Kitchfix in Chicago. Each of these companies works to insure the quality and nutrient count of their broths, but if you have an concerns about a particular ailment or flavor specificity, it’s best– as with most foods– to make it yourself.
