Making Broth
By Carol Michael, UCCE Master Food Preserver
It is cold and gloomy outside. We need something to brighten our days. What do you recommend? Nora S., Paso Robles
A favorite activity is preparing chicken bone broth. Make a stockpot or slow cooker full. Your kitchen will fill with a delicious comforting aroma.
Containers of chicken bone broth tucked in the freezer is my secret treasure. Make as large a batch as you can safely store. It can be heated with a dash of red pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon to sip and warm you.
It can be used to prepare soups, and stews, in place of water for rice and pastas. Use it to sauté vegetables instead of oil or butter. The broth can be used for many comforting dishes: chicken & dumplings, tortilla soup, scalloped potatoes, rice pilaf, or pastas.
Try making broth; you likely have the ingredients on hand. Keep a designated container in your freezer adding roasted bones and vegetable trimmings until you have enough for a recipe.
Adapted from Natasha's Kitchen©2019-Stovetop Method:
2 ½ lbs. of roasted* chicken bones
1 tbsp. cider vinegar or lemon juice (draws collagen and calcium from bones)
1 tsp. salt
1 onion, peeled and halved
2 celery ribs cut into thirds; leaves attached
2 carrots, peeled and halved
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 bay leaf
Filtered water
16 cup stockpot
Quart or pint size wide mouth mason jars; or other freezer safe containers
* Place bones on a lined rimmed baking sheet and roast at 400°F for 20 minutes. Skip if using bones from a cooked chicken.
- Place bones and accumulated pan juices into stockpot. Add 4 quarts water, vinegar, and salt. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer. Skim off impurities. Cover. Simmer on low 6 hours; add vegetables.
- Continue simmering 9 hours for total of 15 hours. Don't bring to hard boil or broth will look “foggy.”
- Strain through fine mesh sieve into a container. Discard solids. Cool strained stock, cover and refrigerate.
- The following day it will thicken. Remove fat from top. Store in refrigerator 3-5 days, or transfer to freezer safe containers and freeze up to 3 months.
- Broth expands when frozen. Leave space in containers for expansion: 1” for wide mouth jars and containers, 2” for regular mouth jars.
We are still here!!!
No in-person workshops for now, but you can
visit our website at : http://cesanluisobispo.ucanr.edu/ ,email us at slomfp@ucanr.edu, or call our helpline at: 805-781-1429.
We also check pressure canner gauges at no cost. Contact us for more information!