panang curry Lenten soup

Leave a comment March 13, 2015 nourishinggrace

A very good tip for the fast, that we discovered some years back, is to make meals that were meant to be vegetarian or vegan in the first place. We wanted to embrace the fast with joy, as we are taught… but each fake hamburger, or look a-like taco made us just wish we were eating meat.

My first visit to an Orthodox monastery was five or six years ago and it was during Great Lent. The food on their table was simple and great. The meals also seemed very traditional – recipes that were meant to be Lenten. I had my four year old daughter with me. She loved everything they served! So the next year, we decided to eat fasting foods that were never intended to contain meat in the first place – a lot are asian or middle eastern or Ethiopian inspired. We didn’t want fake cheese or burgers or other imitations. We wanted real food.

Finding recipes that are meat free to begin with has made a joyful difference at our table.

I hope you will like this delicious Thai coconut panang curry soup. It is made from simple ingredients – and the vegetables can be rotated to what is in season in your area, or to include any specific varieties that you especially enjoy.

This is the way we like it, if it is too sour, just reduce the amount of lime.

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Ingredients

2 cans coconut milk – Native Forest is a great brand
1/4 red onion diced
1/4 cup lime juice
Thai red curry paste – to taste
one container firm organic tofu (very important to get organic. Trader Joes has a fermented organic tofu)
1 cup green beans, ends cut of and sliced into bite sized portions
1 cup chopped portabello or other mushroom you like
1 cup baby bok choy, chopped (about 4 small baby bok chops)
2 inches ginger root peeled and sliced
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 cups vegetable broth, plus a little extra to deglaze pan.

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Preparation

Open tofu package and cut into small squares. Lay these flat on a thick layer of paper towels. Cover with another thick layer of paper towels. You can leave it like this, or place a cutting board on top of them. This is to drain the excess water away. Otherwise it just gets soggy.

Prepare all of your remaining ingredients and have them by the stove. This is the step that dramatically changed the results of our cooking. Having the mis en place staged so that you can concentrate on cooking rather than cutting and watching the stove at the same time reduces the possibility that your dinner will burn.

If you have a wok, then this is a good recipe for it. If not, a large frying pan – well seasoned cast iron or non stick is good.

Over medium heat, add toasted sesame oil and coat the pan. Add the tofu and cook until the sides are brown, About five minutes. Remove from pan and lay on paper towels so that it can drain.

In a soup pot, pour coconut milk, vegetable broth, sliced ginger and lime juice. Let simmer while you cook the vegetables.

Add mushrooms to wok/frying pan. Cook over medium heat. If you are using a wok, move to the side and add the bok choy and green beans. You’ll want the mushrooms well done, the bok choy and beans still a little crispy. If it gets dry or if the veggies start to stick, add in some of the vegetable broth.

With a strainer remove ginger from the broth. Sample and add salt to taste.

Add one heaping teaspoon of panang curry paste and taste. I purposely have not added a measurement for the curry, because frankly different brands vary widely in their flavor. Make this tasty for you. We actually add the curry straight to the soup bowls, the younger ones don’t want as much so they just get a hint of it.

plating the vegetables and tofu

Now you can add all of the vegetables and tofu into the broth, or begin to plate the vegetables into the bowls separately – like we do – and add the broth on top of it.

Claudia and Kates soup

We plate the veggies and tofu separately into the bowls because, in my family, we have three girls, some of who like mushrooms and onions and some who don’t. The one who doesn’t like them, really really doesn’t like them. So the mushrooms and onions go to the bowls in the measure of how well each one will enjoy it. Though we have a general rule in our house that you have to try everything, I have to admit that as a girl, I did not like mushrooms… not at all.

And during the Fast, well, it just seems better to have mercy and give them what they will like, so that they too will embrace the Fast with joy.

Erika’s Soup

mushroom leek soup

Leave a comment February 25, 2015 nourishinggrace

During Great Lent we eat almost 40 days of soup. Mostly, this is because it’s simpler to prepare our foods in this way.

This mushroom leek soup is one of my favorites – a hearty mushroom soup, made with just a few ingredients. This is easy and nourishing and has many variations.

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Mushroom Leek Soup

serves two as a main course, with a nice big salad!

Ingredients

10 ounces of your favorite mushrooms (we just get the assorted pack with shiitake, cremini and portabello

2 leeks sliced thin, green and white parts

4 cloves garlic, minced

6-1/2 cups water

1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme

1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Optional items:

1 strip kombu / seaweed

brown rice noodles

dash of toasted sesame oil

soy sauce or sirachi hot sauce to taste

you can use any combination of herbs that you prefer, like sage, bay leaf, oregano

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Preparation :

In a pot over medium low heat, add sliced leeks, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme. Chop mushrooms and place in soup pot. Let the leeks and mushrooms sweat for about 10 minutes. This will draw the water and flavors out of them.

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Add garlic and water. Place lid on pot and let simmer for 30-45 minutes. This really depends on how tight the lid on your pot fits and whether a lot of steam escapes.

5 minutes before ready to eat, add two nests (they come bunched together and it looks like nests) of rice noodles to the mushroom leek soup. You can take it off the heat and place the lid on, or continue to simmer. They will cook either way.

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The final consistency I like is more on the stew side.

You can add any of the optional items or enjoy it as is.

Enjoy.

dinner in a pinch : R-amen!

Leave a comment February 11, 2014 nourishinggrace

“Our hope is that the winter of humanity will gradually be transformed to the bursting forth of love, for it is to this that we are called.” —Jean Vanier

This is becoming another favorite for the evenings when the kids have activities and we are at a pinch for time. When I was young we used to LOVE ramen noodles. My brother and I would come home from school and eat the noodles straight from the pack – without even cooking them! So, this meal is a trip down memory lane.

Now though, as a student of holistic nutrition, the ingredients in your average store-bought ramen present a major culinary impasse. We just can’t do the ninety nine cent ramen pack- loaded with MSG and lacking any nutritional value.

It’s important for me to nourish my family well, especially during the cold winter months when it’s all too easy to come down with the flu or a cold . With all that home made broth we’ve stocked in our pantry, we now have an easy canvas for almost anything we can throw together. Add to that the mineral richness of stock and bone broth, and your getting a great meal with immune boosting properties.

Recently, I discovered Lotus brand foods. They have a great and fun selection of ramen noodles, with a short but admirable list of ingredients. There are individual soups, to which you can just add water, but we really like the big packets of ramen noodles. There are Millet and Brown Ramen, Forbidden Rice Ramen made with black rice and Jade Pearl Rice.

A well stocked pantry makes this an easy weeknight meal. You’ll need some vegetables of your choice, noodles, seasoning and broth. This recipe is really a framework for whatever you have on hand. We make it new every time but this serves as a good guide. You can use anything you have on hand.

super easy R-AMEN! (serves 4)

ingredients

1 packet Lotus Ramen noodles (4 squares of pressed ramen/ package)

Vegetable of your choice – we used 4 carrots – shredded with a vegetable peeler

a few handfuls greens per bowl- baby spinach, baby kale or even lettuces

6-9 cups chicken, beef, fish or vegetable stock

optional: 1 cup fermented tofu, shredded chicken (we always have leftovers from making broth) or any meat or fish

also optional : wakame seaweed flakes, toasted sesame seeds, sliced green onion, chopped parsley, basil or cilantro, red pepper flakes or hot sauce of your choice 🙂

Unccoked Jade Pearl Ramen

preparation

place equal amounts of carrot shavings and greens into each bowl (about a heaping cupful or two for each serving, they will wilt nicely once you place the hot broth into the bowl). Really, any vegetable is fine, you can just as easily use red or green peppers, tomatoes, thinly sliced cabbage, sliced fresh green beans, bean or other sprouts – whatever you have on hand!

greens and vegetables

place ramen noodles and broth into a pot and warm until ramen cooks – about 5 – 10 minutes. You can also cook the ramen in boiling water.

Ladle ramen noodles and broth distributing evenly between bowls.

For a variation, top with a spoonful of homemade sauerkraut or kimchee for an extra tang! YUM! Fry or poach a pasture raised egg and lay it on top of of your soup if your extra hungry.

Serve with a big side salad and you’ve got an easy weeknight meal!

matzoh ball ~ soup for the soul

1 Comment February 10, 2014 nourishinggrace

“Real humility is light and buoyant, not weighted down by insecurity, self loathing or an obsession with being known and admired. Humility spends the time and energy freed up by not agonizing over one’s self reveling in the grace of everyday blessings big and small. Humility genuinely rejoices with those who rejoice and weeps with those who weep. Humility retains forever its childlike sense of hope and wonder.” ~ Molly Sabourin

Matzoh ball soup is comfort food at its finest and a great use for your homemade chicken stock!

Food sustains physical life and yet is greater than the nourishment it brings to the table. Food gathers people and traditional foods – passed from generation to generation tell a story. These generational foods – shrouded in history, symbolism and ritual tell the story of peoples and their journeys of life and in that category Matzoh Ball Soup definitely tops the charts.

The Matzoh is probably one of the best known Biblical foods and one that has humbly stood the test of time. It is a food which tells the story of the exodus of a chosen people and the guiding Hand that frees them from bondage in Egypt.

Matza is unleavened bread – and one of the three biblical culinary components of the Jewish Passover Seder – it is also called the bread of affliction. For Jewish families, Matzo is the only type of bread eaten throughout the Passover festival. The generational story of the matzo is one of slavery and freedom. The last shared act that every Israelite performed before being freed from slavery in Egypt, as well as the very first act that the entire nation shared as free people at their first stop, was eating matzo. (Encyclopedia of Jewish Food).

The first time my family ever tried matzoh ball soup was last year, visiting grandparents in Florida. We went their favorite Deli, TooJays in Orlando. Such a simple dish, utilizing the most basic and unassertive ingredients – chicken broth, seasonal vegetables, eggs, schmalz (saved chicken fat – from your stock) salt and pepper. This is quintessential comfort food!

Traditionally, matzo balls are served in a broth only served with carrots – but you can make it your own with whatever favorite vegetables you love! This recipe doubles and triples nicely! It also freezes well if you make a big batch. We portion it into servings for two or four and freeze. That way it is on hand, ready to thaw, heat and nourish on those busy school nights laden with activities and little time!

Matzoh Ball Soup – it brings nourishing comfort to the body and as the old saying goes – the soul too!

ingredients:

3 eggs

9 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup grated onion

1/2 cup melted chicken fat (Note: Jewish families would not substitute butter as that is prohibited during the Passover. We used butter (preferably pasture raised).

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated black pepper

1 cup matzo meal (you can make your own by placing Matzo crackers and pulse in food processor or blender. The other option is to buy it ready to use)

4- 5 diced carrots, sauteed

2 talblespoons chopped parsely and/or chives (optional)

preparation

Beat the eggs together and 1/2 cup of stock.

Stir in the grated onion, salt, pepper and fat.

Add the matzo meal. The dough will be moist. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

Shape into matzo balls – about 1 inch in diameter.

Now, you can either heat a pot of salted water or heat your chicken stock (which is a personal preference.) Drop matzo balls into boiling broth. The matzo balls will expand and absorb a lot of liquid. Turn the heat ti medium and let the balls cook for about 30 minutes to set.

Serve one to two matzo balls with broth and sprinkle with chopped parsley and or chives.

fish broth

Leave a comment December 6, 2013 nourishinggrace

“The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it does great things. But where it ceases to act, it ceases to exist.” —Saint Gregory the Great

This is a simple fish broth and it’s also a very inexpensive one too. In fact, fish broth can be the least expensive for you to make. Just make a call to your local fish monger or supermarket and ask them to put aside any carcasses for you from the day. Chances are they’ll charge you 50 cents to a dollar for it, or just let you have them for free! For vegetarians, this is a great way to add the benefits of bone broth in to your diet.

Fish broth has a delicate flavor but strong smell when it is cooking.

It’s a good idea to avoid the larger fish when making broth – this is due to the probable build up of mercury in the larger varieties like tuna.

Ingredients:

2 medium fish carcasses or several fish heads – such as rockfish, snapper, or turbot
1 small head celery
1 medium onion cut into fourths
2 carrots
1 small head garlic, washed, not peeled but cut in half
1 teaspoon black pepper corns
3 quarts cold water
juice of one lemon

Place all ingredients except lemon in stock pot. Bring to boil and skim. Simmer covered for 3 hours. Remove from heat, strain add the juice of the lemon and use or store. It is important not too cook with the lemon, but add it at the end as if you cook with the lemon that will impart a bitter flavor to the soup.

simply beef broth

1 Comment December 5, 2013 nourishinggrace

“When you sit down to eat a meal it should be a time for pleasure and warmth, family and friends. Food should be enjoyed. Even more importantly, it should also be nourishment that meets your bodies needs… in these times the food supply is plentiful but it lacks the bodies needs.” Tom Valentine-Search for Health

In days of old, families went to the butcher for meat on the bone, rather than prepackaged cellophane wrapped individual filets. Our prudent forefathers then made use of every part of the animal by preparing stock or broth from the bony portions. This beef broth is simple to make, and like chicken, fish and vegetable broth it is very very nourishing.

The “rest” of the animal is commonly known as offal (not awful!). Most of the meat we eat is only a small portion of the animal, pieces like steaks and chops and tenderloin. Offal are pieces like the neck, shank and tail and bones and used to be the pieces we enjoyed and relished but now no longer appreciate. What were once the choice cuts such as the tenderloin and New York strip were expensive and actually special; but thanks to industrial farming these once pricey portions are now very cheap, and so we have forgotten about the rest of the animal.

In the sense of pastoral eating, using the other parts of the animal is a way of honoring that animals sacrifice for our table.

A note on sourcing your ingredients: A butcher or local farmer that is a great place to start when sourcing your meat, mainly because they can answer your questions about what it was fed and how it was raised. How an animal is raised, fed, slaughtered and aged are important factors to consider when purchasing your meat ~ and these factors are not easily determined when looking at a final product. A cow is a ruminant animal that is going to be healthier when raised on the grasses for which it’s ruminant digestive system was created. There is ample evidence that corn and grain weakens the health of an animal as well as increasing the amount of fat and changing it’s composition to contain a much higher ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids.

The addition of the vinegar in the recipe below increases the mineral content of the final stock.

Simply Beef Broth

Ingredients:

1 large onion, rinsed and unpeeled, cut into wedges
3 carrots, sliced
3 stalks celery sliced
1 leek, washed and cut – both white and green parts
4 pounds mixed beef bones and odd bits
4 or more quarts cold water
1-2 tomatoes halved
1 medium head garlic, rinsed and cut in half
3 sprigs thyme, rosemary or combination
1 fresh bay leaf (you may use dried)
1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Preparation:

Place bones and odd bits in heavy stock pot – enamel coated cast iron or stainless steel are best. Saute on low heat to brown on all sides (about 30 minutes). Add vegetables, vinegar and water. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce to simmer and cook for 12 to 24 hours. If necessary, add more water to cover the bones.

While it is cooking, check it periodically, skim off anything with a spoon that rises to the surface.

Strain. Discard bones and compost vegetables.

This stock is the base for many wonderful soups.

vegetable . mineral . broth

6 Comments December 4, 2013 nourishinggrace

“Solitude, prayer, love and abstinence are the four wheels of the vehicle that carries our spirit heavenward.”

Saint Seraphim of Sarov

“Vegetarian cooking, for both health and spiritual reasons, has been rediscovered and has attained wide prominence. In the cooking at monasteries, this goes a long way toward sustaining and encouraging the positive trend we see today. Besides, a vegetarian meal— when well prepared and attractively presented at the monastic table— has a charm all its own. I am sure the same can be said of other vegetarian tables around the country and around the world.” (Brother Victor-Antione d’Avila Latrourette)

This broth is a fasting staple in our home, and when the seasons of the Fasts approach we double and triple this recipe into mason jars in order to have ample stock on hand. It simplifies our Lenten meal preparation, and as you can imagine, that is a great blessing!

In this age of take out and hurried cooking making your own stock may seem like a bother, but your meals will have greater flavor and nourishment if you do!

The preparation of this nourishing mineral rich broth requires no fancy equipment or culinary skills. It is a recipe we appreciate for it’s ease of simplicity, wholesome monkish frugality and great flavor. All the ingredients are very rough chopped into large chunks, and allowed to simmer for a few hours. The result is a sweet tasting, aromatic broth. It’s just that easy.

Vegetable stocks tend to have less body and texture due to the lack of gelatin and fat, but with the combination of sweet potatoes, garlic and leeks, this broth is unapologetic fresh, nourishing and delicious. The addition of the kombu adds valuable trace minerals to this exceptional vegetable broth. (Kombu is available in the asian section of most grocery stores.)

We load our pantry with this mineral broth during fasting seasons and it is the base for almost everything we cook from rice, to lentil soup to minestrone.

This recipe is inspired and adapted from The Cancer Fighting Kitchen : Nourishing Big-Flavor Recipes for Cancer Treatment and Recovery by Rebecca Katz who says, “This rejuvenating liquid, chock-full of magnesium, potassium, and sodium, allows the body to refresh and restore itself.”

Vegetable . Mineral . Broth

Ingredients

As always, source the best ingredients available and affordable to you. Organic is the best option since this recipe calls for the peels of the vegetables – since that is where many minerals reside, but it is also where pesticide residues can be found.

1 pound unpeeled carrots, cut into thirds
1 unpeeled yellow onion, cut into chunks
1 unpeeled red onion, cut into chunks
2 leeks, white and green parts, cut into thirds
1 bunch celery, including the heart, cut into thirds
4 unpeeled red potatoes, quartered
3 unpeeled sweet potatoes, quartered
1 unpeeled garnet yam, quartered
1 head garlic, halved
1 bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 8-inch strip of kombu or Nori
10 black peppercorns
4 whole allspice or juniper berries
1 bay leaf
8 quarts cold, unfiltered water 1 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)

Preparation

Rinse all of the vegetables well, including the kombu. In a 12-quart or larger stockpot, combine all of the ingredients with the water (2 inches below the rim), cover, and bring to a boil.

Decrease the heat to low, and simmer, for about least 2 hours. As the broth simmers, some of the water will evaporate; add more if the vegetables begin to peek out. Simmer until the full richness of the vegetables can be tasted. Strain the broth through a large, coarse-mesh sieve add salt to taste. The strained solids can be composted.

Let cool to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing.

You can drink this warm from a cup like tea or use it as the base for soups and rice.

chicken broth

3 Comments December 3, 2013 nourishinggrace

“Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite.” Auguste Escoffier

“Soup is the song of the hearth… and the home.”

Louis P. De Gouy, ‘The Soup Book’ (1949)

Homemade chicken soup: it’s not only good for the soul but also the flu! A warm bowl of it contains rejuvenating nutrients and proteins that may otherwise be difficult for a flu ridden and nauseous stomach to digest.

Whether you find you like to make large batches, or enjoy simmering a pot every few days, you’ll need a large stock pot with a lid. Stainless steel and enameled cast iron are very good choices.

A word on ingredients. Find and use the best ingredients affordable to you. Bones and carcasses from free range pastured animals are the gold standard, which we’ll talk about in an upcoming post.

Remember, eating healthy broth need not be an expensive endeavor. Our farmer sells pastured beef bones for $1.00/lb and chicken carcasses for $2.00/lb. That’s a great deal! Despite being carcasses they are absolutely loaded with meat and frankly it’s enough for our soups and stews – no need to add any extra.

Basic Chicken Broth / Stock

1 whole free range chicken, or 1 organic chicken carcass or 2-3 pounds chicken parts i.e chicken feet, necks or scraps
1 large onion quartered
1 head garlic, rinsed and cut in half
3 celery stalks coarsely chopped
2 washed, unpeeled sweet potatoes or yams, cut into thirds
4 carrots coarsely chopped
1 strip kombu – optional : this is a great source of potassium and iodine and minerals
12 or so black peppercorns
1 or two bay leaves or several generous sprigs of any fresh herbs you have on hand, thyme, sage, oregano are great
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (this acidity allows more minerals to leech from the bones)
1 teaspoon sea salt

Rinse all vegetables well. Place chicken, carcass or parts in a 12-quart or larger stock pot. Brown on low heat briefly on all sides. Add vegetables and herbs and fill pot with cold water, about two inches below the rim. Add vinegar or lemon juice. Bring to a boil. Remove the lid, decrease to low heat and simmer for at least two hours. Some of the water will evaporate.

Strain broth through a coarse sieve. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing. Will store in refrigerator for 5 to 7 days or in the freezer for 4 months.

Once cool, the fat will separate to the top, you can remove this and use it for other purposes.

got broth?

Leave a comment December 3, 2013 nourishinggrace

Fall and the approaching winter have ushered in a wave of cooler weather. With the change in seasons and temperatures, we naturally migrate our cooking toward more warming & nourishing foods like soups and stews. That brings us to one of the least glamorous of all foods – the humble broth – a nutritionally wonderful canvas to enjoy the hearty fall harvest!

Broth provides a modest yet universal meal.

A remedy for sore throats and the flu, it nurses the sick and puts vigor in our steps. The nutritional savior of the soup kitchen, the humble broth is a warming comfort in times of need. It is also incredibly healthy and a powerhouse of vitality!

Broths are a nutritional superfood in that they offer a very simple, affordable and rich concentration of nutrients that are easily acquired by our bodies. That ease of nutrient absorption is paramount, because there is a big difference between consuming nutrients (from whole foods or supplements) and actually assimilating them into our cells.

Unlike it’s commercial cousins, homemade stocks and broths come with an unabridged complement of the exact nutrition we need to rebuild and maintain bones and joints. One reason is that homemade broths and stocks are teaming with gelatin and minerals. If you are unfamiliar with gelatin, it is a jelly like substance that is extracted from simmering bones or the soft tissues – like cartilage and skin from chicken.

Gelatin is essentially collagen in liquid form and collagen is part of the connective matrix that holds you together! Among other things, it provides for youthful supple skin and healthy joints. It also supports the immune system, digestive tract, heart and muscles and contributes to the building of strong cartilage and bones.

Want to know more about the benefits of gelatin and broth?

Gelatin is an easy way to support your digestive system. It is not only nutritious but very soothing and healing to the digestive tract. Its ability to attract and hold liquids makes foods cooked in broths easier to digest.

American researcher, Dr. Gotthoffer found that cooked foods eaten with gelatin were easily digested and that babies fed milk fortified with gelatin had better digestion than those given plain milk. Also, the babies who were fed milk without gelatin had a higher rate of allergies and intestinal issues.

Additionally, Gotthoffer found studies showing that convalesing adults who have lost weight because of operations, dysentery, cancer and other illnesses fare better if gelatin is added to their diet.

Gelatin has long been recognized in the treatment of digestive diseases. “[Gelatin] is said to be retained by the most sensitive stomach and will nourish when almost nothing else will be tolerated,” wrote L. E. Hogan in 1909. Today, homemade broths are the essential component of the GAPS diet protocol, in that it heals and seals the digestive tract.

One reason gelatin was recommended so highly for malnourished individuals is that it reduces the amount of complete protein needed by the body. So, while gelatin is not a complete protein, it is high in the amino acids arginine and glycine which enables the body to more efficiently utilize the complete proteins that are consumed. For that reason broths are known as “protein sparing” because with broth your body can make better use of the protein you do eat, therefore not require as much.

Gelatin strengthens hair and nails, minimizes wrinkles and prevents and heals cellulite.

Gelatin may be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer.

Gelatin is unusually high in the amino acids glycine and proline. A vital function of glycine is detoxification. Proline aids the body in breaking down proteins for use in healthy cells and is used in making collagen, tendons, ligaments and heart muscle. Adequate proline is beneficial for the tratments of conditions such as osteoarthritis, soft tissue sprains and chronic back pain.

Gelatin assists in neutralizing intestinal poisons causing problems during an intestinal bug or flu.

Research has shown that broth aides in normalizing stomach acid levels for those with too high or too low stomach acid – which can have a profound impact on digestion.

Despite the abundance of our modern food supply, traditional diets contained far more gelatin than ours do today. Broth was a mainstay in French, Italian, Russian, Japanese, South America, Middle Eastern, African and other cuisines. In the honored traditions of food, none of the animal went to waste (ironically, probably due to the scarcity of their food supply!)

People would eat soups made from bones all the time and doing so supplied their bodies with the whole family of glycosaminoglycans, which used to protect people’s joints. Now that few people make bone stock anymore, many of us are limping into doctors’ offices for prescriptions, surgeries and, lately, recommendations to buy over-the-counter joint supplements containing glucosamine. (Shanahan, 2011).

Broth is economical and therapeutic food.

One can spend exhorbitant amounts on supplements containing glucosamine and chondroitins, but these capsules do not hold a candle to the efficacy of the the whole spectrum of glycosaminoglycans in a well made broth. Whereas a supplement will contain only a few targeted ingredients, a well made broth provides the entire nutrient complex of joint building substances – some of which have likely yet to be discovered.

In that sense, bone broth represents a wonderfully inexpensive therapeutic food. What a bargain! A twenty five cent cup of broth offers an unparalleled small fortune in supplements: excellent levels of bioavailable minerals such as calcium, magnesium, potassium and phosphorus are supported by gelatin, chondroiton sulphate, bovine cartilage, glycine and hyaluronic acid.

Best of all, broth tastes great.

You can enjoy it warm in a mug at the end of a long day, or create delicious nourishing soups, stews and sauces. It’s a pantry item to keep on hand in fall and winter. Making homemade broth is not only very nourishing, but the utilization of the rest of the animal also qualities broth as a nutritional virtue and a wonderful manifestation of stewardship eating.

Of all we consume, may we always eat thankfully, wisely and well.