The age-old custom of making bone broth is now a hot new trend among health-minded people who are drinking it for its nutritional benefits.
More than just a soup stock, its preparation is more complicated, but the results are more nutritious, say local advocates.
Licensed acupuncturist Megan Lott, of Surya Health and Wellness in Durango, describes how bone broth is traditionally used in Chinese medicine for bone and joint health, overall vitality and to strengthen libido. A former vegetarian, she started making it for her family five years ago. Her two kids love it, she says, and the broth is now a regular part of her family’s diet.
Jennifer Smith, a Durango mother of two, also has made bone broth a regular part of her culinary repertoire. “It’s only effort until it becomes routine,” she says of the extra time it takes to make bone broth instead of regular soup stock.
Smith incorporated bone broth into her family’s diet three years ago. It has improved their health so much, she says, she intends to provide it to her family for the rest of their lives.
Smith says she used to experience digestive issues, and her husband suffered from psoriasis. After incorporating the broth as part of the Gut and Psychology Syndrome, or GAPS, diet, their health issues have resolved, she says. Smith’s son Elliot, then in third grade, noticed three weeks into the diet that he could focus better in school, she says.
Smith has since completed training as a certified nutrition coach and says she intends to help other families learn to make and enjoy the benefits of bone broth, along with other healthy foods.
Preparation of bone broth generally involves an extended cooking time over low heat, which extracts healing nutrients from the bones and connective tissues used in making the broth.
“The longer you (cook it), the more good stuff comes out,” says Lisa Nielsen, a wellness coach with 25 years experience. Some of the main healing components of bone broth are collagen, amino acids and minerals.
Collagen, a main component of skin, hair and connective tissue, is the superstar nutrient in bone broth. It soothes and protects the lining of the digestive tract, says Lott, who teaches classes on the making and uses of bone broth.
Additional benefits of collagen include improving joint health and reducing the appearance of wrinkles and cellulite, Lott says, noting that people who start drinking bone broth often notice improvements in the appearance of their skin.
She recommends bone broth as a dietary addition for people with any kind of digestive issues, leaky gut symptoms or autoimmune disorders. It is also good for people who have gone through cancer treatment, to assist with rebuilding the body after taking anti-cancer medications, Lott says.
Amino acids in the broth work with the collagen to strengthen digestion and improve joint health, Lott writes in her class handout. The amino acids also can boost the immune system and help overcome food intolerances and allergies, she says.
Smith likens daily consumption of bone broth to taking a liquid multimineral supplement. Calcium, magnesium and phosphorus are plentiful in bone broth and may be more easily absorbed from a food than a supplement, Smith says. Bone broth is also rich in glucosamine and chondroitin, which many people take for their joints, Smith says. For those with joint issues, she recommends beef over chicken bone broth, because it contains more collagen. Chicken bone broth is better for healing for the gut, she says.
The basic method of preparing bone broth involves simmering bones and seasonings in water, then straining out the solids to achieve a smooth, flavorful and nutritionally dense liquid.
“Broth can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be,” Lott says. “I’m all about what’s doable.”
Bone broth can be prepared on the stovetop or in a slow cooker. Nielsen says most recipes call for cooking the broth from 24 to 72 hours, and she recommends a minimum cooking time of at least 12 hours.
Registered dietician Mikel Love, who says she “rarely follows any rules” in the kitchen, simmers her bone broth for a casual three to four hours, mostly out of convenience, in order to use it in a soup on the same day. “I made a batch last night that I simmered overnight, and it’s still going (this morning), only because I haven’t had time to deal with it yet,” she said in a phone interview.
Poultry or beef bones are most commonly used, but pork bones, or those from wild game such as elk and deer, will also work. To reap the most nutritional and healing benefits from your broth, you need a combination of bone types, Lott says.
If making beef (or wild game) broth, knuckle bones (or joint bones) provide larger amounts of collagen, she says. She also recommends using a mix of rib and shank bones, both of which contain marrow. The collagen in the broth lends a viscous or gelatinous property to the liquid when cooled. “You know your bone broth is good if it’s super gelatinous,” Lott says.
When making broth from poultry bones, you can use the whole carcass, which can be either roasted or boiled to cook the meat, which is removed before using the bones for broth. Love saves chicken carcasses in the freezer until she has three or four, then makes a bulk quantity batch in a large stockpot.
After simmering a whole chicken in water, Smith saves the meat for another use, then adds all of the organ meats, scraps and skin back into the bone broth with the carcass. She adds raw apple cider vinegar to the cooking solution because it helps to extract minerals from the bones, Smith says.
Vegetables can be added, although they might come out mushy by the time the broth is finished, Lisa Nielsen says. She recommends adding them toward the end of the cooking time, so the broth can be enjoyed as a soup.
Both Smith and Nielsen use organic chicken whenever possible, but “if your budget doesn’t allow for organic chicken, it’s better to use conventional (chicken) and to drink the broth than to not have it at all,” Smith says.
Lott increases the collagen in her broth by using chicken feet. For the squeamish among us, she says, “You’re only dealing with the feet for a second” when adding them to broth.
Once the broth is cooking at the desired temperature (Smith says you want a “bloop” every once in a while), there is little work to be done. She recommends skimming off the brown stuff that comes to the top, to avoid bitterness. Don’t simmer the broth at too high a temperature, she says, because this can create excessive amounts of the amino acid glutamine. Glutamine mimics MSG, and some people are sensitive to it.
The final product can be used as a base for soups, stews, chili or gravy. “You can use beef broth in chili; you’re nourishing your family that much more, and they don’t even know,” Smith says.
Her family members each consume a cup of broth every morning before breakfast. For sipping plain warmed broth, she adds “quite a bit” of sea salt and also recommends turmeric and black pepper. Her kids prefer the taste of broth made from chicken bones over that made from beef, she says.
Holly Zink, owner and founder of Sunnyside Farms, says between customers looking for soup bones and those buying bones for their dogs, the business has trouble maintaining its supply of beef bones. For a shortcut to chicken bone broth, Sunnyside sells rotisserie chickens for $14.99 to $16.99 every day but Sunday.
James Ranch sells a frozen “bone broth package,” which includes knucklebones, long bones and rib bones, complete with a broth recipe, for $25. Its retail store in Hermosa is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
Wild Mesa Farm sells bones from chicken, beef, pork, goat and lamb, says co-owner Andrew Riedel, who operates the farm with his wife, Margaret. For those who don’t want to deal with animal parts, they also sell ready-made broth as a frozen bullion cube, which can be added to soups and stews.
Wild Mesa currently offers chicken, beef or pork cubes for $13 each. One cube makes a quart of broth. Both bones and bouillon can be purchased from 3 to 6 p.m. Wednesdays at the Smiley Building, and they’re also available in the freezer section at Nature’s Oasis.
Rachel Turiel, a Durango mother of two, crafts her bone broth exclusively from venison and elk bones. She adds locally harvested and dried wild mushrooms, such as boletes and porcinis, to simmer in her broth.
After cooking the broth for 48 hours, she uses a chopstick to dig out the bone marrow, which dissolves into the solution. She then uses the broth as a base for a hearty meat and vegetable soup that feeds her family for several days. “Using game bones has a stronger flavor, but we use them because that’s what we have on hand,” she says.
Love cans the leftovers from her large batches in a pressure canner. Both she and Smith say that the broth also freezes well in wide-mouthed quart jars. If you leave the fat on top of the broth, it will keep in the refrigerator for up to a month, Smith says.
HHH
I decided my family and I might benefit from consuming some of the healing liquid. I roasted a chicken, picked off most of the meat (leaving some on the carcass to add flavor) and dumped the entire carcass, skin, drippings, giblets and all, into my slow cooker.
I threw in a few roasted vegetables and a large bay leaf, and covered the contents with water. In a giant leap of faith, I turned on the countertop cooking device, and walked away.
Two days later, I strained the solids through a sieve and followed Smith’s advice, seasoning with plenty of sea salt, some turmeric and black pepper.
The result? It was love at first sip. The flavor was complex, smooth and deeply satisfying. I slurped down two cups before breakfast, savoring every warm, nourishing drop.
For me, chicken soup – or broth, in this case – is unquestionably food for the soul. The nutritional benefits are an added bonus, and the taste is far superior to any broth that my gourmet-minded husband or I have ever tried. An even better bonus? Our kids liked it, too.
Stephanie Harris, DC, is a Durango chiropractor, former registered dietitian and mom of two with a passion for helping people live healthier lifestyles. Reach her at inspiredurango@gmail.com.
