During the winter months, I love having a cup of warm bone broth first thing in the morning or to wind down in the evening. It’s a filling, savory drink that can also be easily used for cooking rice or making soups. I’ve also gotten a few compliments on my skin since I’ve started drinking broth consistently in the morning before breakfast which is an unexpected benefit.

So why drink bone broth in the first place? The simmering to make bone broth causes the bones and ligaments to release healing compounds like collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine that have the power to improve your health. Nutrition researchers Sally Fallon and Kaayla Daniel of the Weston A. Price Foundation explain that bone broths contain minerals in forms that your body can easily absorb: calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and others (source). 

There are numerous bone broth recipes out there, but this is my own take on making it. You can easily add more flavor by including additional add-on ingredients, but the key is to have an acid like ACV or lemon to aid in leaching the minerals out of the bones.

Bone Broth Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of bones (chicken, beef, turkey, etc.) —Use a mix of meaty and marrow filled bones

• 3 celery stalks

• 2-3 large carrots

• 1 large onion (or two small)

• 2-3 garlic cloves

• 2 tsp ACV

• Dash of Sea salt

• Dash of Pepper

• Dash of Turmeric powder

Bone Broth Optional Ingredients:

• Preferred spices to taste

• Fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, etc.)

• Reishi (in drop or powder form)

• Thumb-sized nob of ginger

• Thumb-sized nob of Fresh turmeric

• lemon

Bone Broth Instructions:

1. Chop veggies. Put the bones in a dutch oven or large heavy bottomed pot with veggies and other ingredients and cover with filtered or fresh spring water. Let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Simmer broth on stove at a low setting for minimum of 8 hours and maximum of 24 hours. If using a pressure cooker check out this recipe for simmering length which will be shorter than if you’re using a dutch oven. Add in optional ingredients during the last hour of cooking the stock.

3. Let the broth cool and strain it. Use the broth or stock right away, or store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Bone broth and regular stock will keep for 5 days refrigerated or up to 6 months frozen.

Other Tips:

• If you don’t have bones on hand from cooking (you can freeze them for future use in broths), you can purchase bones from the butcher at your grocery store or farmers market. I personally get mine at my local Whole Foods.

• Using a pressure cooker or instant pot will shorten the broth cooking time, but if you don’t have one, use a large heavy bottomed pot like a dutch oven.

• Do yourself a favor and just freeze most of the broth for later use so you don’t let it sit in the refrigerator too long and get spoiled. I save jars from coconut oil and spaghetti sauce and re-use them to decant my broth into them. Just let the jars cool completely before putting them in the freezer. If the jars are still warm, they may crack in the freezer.