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Credit: Celeste Longacre 
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EmailBone broth is magic! About twenty years ago, I made a startling discovery. I noticed that—if my husband, Bob, and I have at least two servings of my homemade bone broth soup a week—we have no problems with our joints. If we don’t, our joints get quite stiff and bothersome.
Vitamins and minerals are water-soluble. This is one reason that we lose a lot of vital nutrients when we boil our vegetables and meats and throw the water away. Soup, on the other hand, collects these items and serves them up to us in an easily digestible way. And nutrients are the building blocks of our cells; they give us the ability to renew and heal all of the parts of our bodies.
So, I make soup a lot. Using beef, chicken, turkey or lamb (or a combination), I put the bones in a crock pot. I add whatever organic vegetables that I have at hand—often beets, carrots and onions. In the summer, I include the carrot and beet greens. Because liver has so many vitamins and minerals, I always add a small piece of liver to the pot. I then add a dash of white wine or vinegar. This helps to get the gelatin from the bones into the soup. If I have any pan drippings from cooking the meat, I will also put that in. Then, I fill the pot with cold water and turn it on to simmer.
I cook my soup on low for 48 hours. The longer we cook it, the more gelatin gets into it. By the end of this amount of time, the soup is very dark and rich. Now it’s time to strain the juice from the rest. Using pot holders, I pour the mixture into a colander set into a large bowl. Once the crock is empty, I generally set the colander into a smaller bowl to let the soup begin to cool down. A few teaspoons of salt can be added at this time. Once cooled, I spoon the soup through a strainer and into several can or freeze pints, label with the date and set them into the freezer.
We often heat up a pint, pour into two mugs, and drink. In a pinch, I set the pint in a pan of hot water to defrost more quickly. However, this soup can also be made into a sauce by boiling and adding a mixture of arrowroot and water and boiling again.
My knees love me for it!
Celeste Longacre has been growing virtually all of her family’s vegetables for the entire year for over 30 years. She cans, she freezes, she dries, she ferments & she root cellars. She also has chickens.
Celeste has also enjoyed a longtime relationship with The Old Farmer’s Almanac as their astrologer! A personally autographed copy of her book, Love Signs, is available in the Almanac.com General Store. You can also find an ebook version on Amazon.com for $2.99.
Celeste is a great speaker for garden groups and civic groups. She is also offer a gardening “Apprentice with Celeste." Email her for details via AlmanacEditors@yankeepub.com
Comments
is that correct when it says
is that correct when it says you leave it to cook in your slow cooker for 48 hours (2 Days)??:)
I was wondering the same as
I was wondering the same as Michael....also I dont have a slow cooker, so would simmer it in a large pan, but impossible to do that for 48 hrs.
If you don't have a
If you don't have a slow-cooker, put your ingredients in a heavy pot, bring to a simmer (DON'T BOIL) on top of the stove, cover, and put in a 200F oven for 24-48 hours.
If you have no crock pot, put
If you have no crock pot, put it in the oven at around 300 degrees. I often cook my spaghetti with tomatoes and meatballs
this way so it doesn't scorch on the bottom of the pot as it's liable to do on the stove top and you don't need to stir it so often.
Hi Maggy May, If you can't
Hi Maggy May,
If you can't cook it that long, just cook it for as long as you can.
Celeste
Hi Michael, You don't always
Hi Michael,
You don't always have to cook it for 48 hours. However, the longer you cook it, the more of the gelatin gets into the soup. That's why I cook it so long.
I use my rice cooker for
I use my rice cooker for slow cooker recipes. It works fine. Yes, 48 hours is right. That's how my mother and grandmothers made it, on the kitchen range, in a large covered soup pot. With the electric stove, we just set it on "Simmer" and checked to see if it needed a little water before going to bed.
Do you put any of the
Do you put any of the vegetables back into the soup after straining, or simply discard them and drink only the broth?
Hi WxByHart, I don't put the
Hi WxByHart,
I don't put the veggies back into the soup. They are quite exhausted by the end of cooking for two days. Mostly, we drink the broth. However, sometimes I'll stir-fry an onion & red pepper until tender, add the broth, then add whatever other vegetables I like (I love spinach & Swiss chard in soup). Cut up carrots, celery & beets are also good, but they take quite a while to cook (about an hour).
Wow! I've only had internet
Wow! I've only had internet at home for a few weeks now, and I am truly enjoying checking out different websites and blogs of like-minded folks who enjoy gardening, homesteading, etc. I just found yours today, and I really like it. I have read through all the way back to the sunflower story, and I have enjoyed each one. I have also learned a few things - like simmering bone broth in the crockpot for 2 days, and to cut the onion tops down while they are still in the flats. Thank you for sharing your weatlth of knowledge and experience with those of us who hunger for more.
Hi cathyjane, Thank you so
Hi cathyjane,
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Hi Celeste; I like soup.I
Hi Celeste;
I like soup.I generally simmer bones to make stock for my soups.I have never made it this way but enjoy learning new things and trying them...We are retired and living on only one SSI income so this would stretch our grocery budget.
Hi Terry, One of the nice
Hi Terry,
One of the nice things about making soup this way is that you can make it from the cheaper cuts of meat. Chicken thighs are often offered at a good deal or just see what's on sale. Remember, some meat is necessary for flavor but the bones give the nice gelatin.
This sounds good! I remember
This sounds good! I remember my Mother having a big old stockpot sitting on the kitchen range most of the winter. She'd get the beef bones from the butcher and throw them in along with veggie leftovers. The result was this great tasting soup base that looked lik aspic.
I will try your recipie.
Thanks!
AJ
My german granma calls it
My german granma calls it "Soupbone Stew"... easy & economical to make.. best of all its easy on the stomach of us plain janes.
Hi Rhonda, Yes, you are
Hi Rhonda,
Yes, you are right--it is easy and economical to make and very, very easy to digest.
What about pureeing the
What about pureeing the vegetables in the broth instead of discarding them?
Hi djud, You could do that,
Hi djud,
You could do that, but the vegetables are pretty exhausted by the end of 48 hours of cooking.
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