RECIPE: Home Canned Bone Broth (AKA Stock)

Coincidentally, I started on this large batch of broth on the eve of Earth Day, a time when there is quite a lot of discussion about food waste and sustainable agriculture. Here's a great way to cut down on waste, and get delicious soup stock in the process!

Let me start by saying there are exact recipes to follow out there on the internet for bone broth. This is not one of those! Over the winter, I collected up scraps from roasted birds and chopped veggies in gallon freezer bags and threw them in the chest freezer until I got enough to fill a 23 qt pot...

There is quite a bit of information out there online concerning the health benefits of bone broth. It makes an excellent medicinal base for soups during cold and flu season, and it's delicious! Making your own is definitely worth the effort!

Ingredients

3 gallon freezer bags of misc. poultry or beef bones
1 gallon freezer bag carrot, celery and onion scraps *

8 cloves Garlic

1 tsp. Thyme

1 tsp. Rosemary

1 tsp. Basil

1/8 tsp. Cayenne

Salt and Pepper to taste

* I used carrot peelings and tops, celery leaves and root ends, onion tops and bottoms. Onion portion should be equal to no more than one medium onion.

Put bones, veggies and garlic in a large stock pot. Pour enough water into the stock pot to just cover the bones and vegetable scraps. Bring bones to a boil. Turn heat down til the pot is just at a simmer, and continue to simmer for 12 hours. Add herbs and spices and simmer for an additional 30 minutes.

Let the broth cool til able to be safely handled and strain broth using a fine mesh strainer or colander to remove bones and vegetable scraps. Some tiny bits of meat and herbs may not be strained out, that's fine. You may want to let it cool enough to remove solidified fats from the surface if you are using beef bones.

Reheat the broth just to a boil, and fill sterilized canning jars leaving 1" head space. Process the jars of broth at 11 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes for pints, and 25 minutes for quarts. A 3/4 full 23 qt stock pot of bones and veggie scraps made 9 quarts of broth.

REVIEW: Presto 23 Quart Pressure Canner

A reliable and cost effective home pressure canner perfect for preserving your homegrown or locally purchased produce, including meats!

Click photo to view on Amazon.com

 I was recently speaking with a friend on mine about beginning canning and some of the equipment she may need. I mentioned purchasing a pressure canner if she desired doing anything outside pickling or fruits. Not everyone has several hundred dollars to go out and buy the top of the line home canner, nor the good luck to find one second hand at a garage sale, so I suggested the canner I use, the Presto 23 Quart Pressure Canner.

The Presto 23 Quart Pressure Canner is made of polished aluminum, and includes 1 canning rack, a 76 page instruction manual/recipe guide, and can process either 24 half pints, 20 pints or 7 quarts per batch using Regular mouth jars or 16 half pints, 16 pints or 7 quarts using Widemouth jars. (In order to double stack half pints and pints, you will need to purchase a second canning rack).

The instruction manual is very detailed, with several diagrams and specific steps a beginner would find extremely informative and useful. There is a distinct emphasis on food safety, which anyone who will later eat your home canned food will appreciate! While it's always helpful to have a friend or family member instruct you the first time, someone new to canning shouldn't have any problems on their own after carefully reviewing the material.

There are many tasty recipes included in the back of the instruction manual. Not only basic canning recipes like dill pickles and canned peaches, or even a little more advanced meat canning, but one pot entree recipes like "Beef Stew" and "Chicken and Dumplings" as well. YES! You can quickly cook delicious meals in this canner, as it doubles as a pressure cooker, too! Last year we used the "Zesty Salsa" recipe contained in the recipes section. It was a huge hit with family at holiday parties and picnics!

We have had absolutely no problems with this canner. It has worked wonderfully every time. We use ours on a 5 burner propane fueled stove and have processed several batches in one day in the past with it. The seal has remained in great shape, as well as the pressure dial.

***While Presto does make a 16 Quart model, I highly recommend spending a little more for the 23 Quart model. It processes half the amount of half pints and pints as the 23 Quart per batch. Canning can be a fairly long process depending on what foods you're using. It is well worth the ability to double stack smaller jars, which are often used for jams, jellies, relishes and other common recipes.