6 Gut Health Benefits of Bone Broth – and How to Make It
Cooler weather is here (at least in Victoria BC), and for me that means making a lot more soups, stews, and curries.
These kinds of dishes are hearty, easy to digest, and incredibly nourishing – especially if you use homemade bone broth as a base!
Bone broth is prepared in cultures around the world as both a taste, healthy soup, and an easily digested medicinal food. The prolonged cooking of bones in water results in a broth rice in constituents that nourish the body, heal tissues, and aid in recovery from sickness.
For individuals who suffer from chronic gut issues, making bone broth a regular part of the diet can do wonders for your gut health.
Here are 6 reasons why you need bone broth in your life:
1. It’s a good source of easily-digested minerals.
Bone broth is rich in calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur, and other trace minerals.
2. It supports digestive health.
Bone broth is rich in the amino acid glycine which supports stomach acid regulation and promotes bile production for digestion and absorption of protein and fat.
3. It heals a damaged gut lining.
The amino acids glycine and proline are necessary for wound healing and healthy connective tissue. This includes healing the lining of the gut to maintain integrity of the gut-barrier when there is leaky gut or inflammation.
4. It boosts detoxification.
Bone broth is rich in potassium and glycine which support cellular and liver detoxification. Glycine is a precursor to the antioxidant glutathione. Glutathione is used by the liver in large amounts to detoxify the body from daily exposure to chemicals and pollutants.
5. It strengthens the blood.
Glycine is a vital component of heme – this is the part of your red blood cells that carry oxygen to body tissues. Your digestive organs need oxygen to function optimally too!
6. It supports health bones, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and skin.
The amino acid proline is essential to the structure of collagen which is a matrix-like protein found in muscles, joints, skin, hair, and nails. Collagen is what gives our tissues strength and resilience. It is also abundant in the tissues of the digestive organs.
TYPES OF BONE BROTH:
Making bone broth can seem like a daunting task, but it actually requires very little prep. I also love that you can just set it and forget it.
If you don’t want to put in time and effort to make it, you can also purchase bone broth from your local grocer or butcher. Look for varieties labelled ‘organic’ (because you are what you eat eats too!).
Bone broth can be made from any variety of animal bones – my favourite is chicken. It doesn’t have quite as strong of a flavour as beef and is much less fatty.
A few times a month, I usually order a rotisserie chicken from my local butcher to save time during the week. Their chickens are free-range and well kept. This is important because you are what you eat eats too! (No grain-fed cluckers for me, thank you!)
No matter what kind of bones you choose for your broth, it’s always best to choose ones from animals that were pasture-raised, grass-fed, or free range. You can use bones from poultry, beef, lamb, or fish.
Once I’ve eaten my rotisserie chicken, instead of throwing away the bones and carcass, I’ll put them in a large Ziploc bag in the freezer. Once I have two or three carcasses, I thaw them and toss them in the pressure cooker with minimal and periodic supervision.
If you don’t have the space, or you’re not into keeping dead chicken bodies in your freezer, most butchers have bones you can buy specifically for making stock. If you don’t see any in the shop, just ask! They’ll probably have some in the back.
HOW TO MAKE IT:
Here are my general rules for making bone broth:
1. Place bones in a stock pot or pressure cooker, and cover with cold water. (If you’re using larger bones, cut them into smaller pieces, about 2-3 inches, so there is more surface area exposed to the water.)
2. Add a “splash” of apple cider vinegar (or other vinegar) – about 2 Tbsp per 2lbs. of bones. (Don’t skip this step. Adding an acidic component is essential to extract the minerals and nutrients from the bones.)
3. Add garlic, onion, and spices to increase flavour. (Some suggestions for spices that promote digestive health: ginger, turmeric, cumin seeds, bay leaves, coriander, and fennel seed.)
4. Heat your stock slowly, gradually bringing it to a boil. Then turn down the heat and simmer for at least 6 hours. (The time it takes will depend on if you are cooking stovetop or using a pressure cooker.)
5. If you need to add more water to keep the bones covered while cooking, only add hot water (do not use cold or lukewarm).
6. After simmering the bones for several hours, you may wish to add other vegetables like carrots, celery, or leeks for the last one to two hours of cooking. This adds both flavour and nutritional value as nutrients from the vegetables are absorbed into the stock. (This is a great way to use up less-than-fresh veggies from your vegetable crisper and/or leftover rinds or skins.)
7. When finished cooking, the bones (and vegetables, if used) can be removed and discarded, and you can strain the broth through a colander or sieve.
8. For an extra clear broth, I sometimes do a second strain through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth.
TIP: Beef or lamb bones give a nicer broth if they have been roasted in the oven first, until browned (400F for 45-90 minutes).
Cooking time:
I used to make bone broth on the stovetop in a stock pot – it usually took a good 24 to 36 hours. So, it’s definitely a time commitment if you decide to kick it old school. Because water will evaporate in the form of steam, you will also have to tend your pot a little more and add hot water as needed to keep the bones covered while simmering.
Since getting a pressure cooker, however, broth-making is SO much easier and tends to take about 4 to 6 hours (or 2 to 3 whistles).
Storage:
You should let your broth cool before storing. This also allows the fat to harden on top so you can skim it off before putting it in the fridge.
Properly prepared broth will cool to a rubbery, jelly-like consistency due to the collagen from the bones. Don’t worry, it will reheat to a nice liquid consistency.
It keeps for up to 5 days in the fridge or up to a month or longer in the freezer.
I like to store mine in individual mason jars and freeze them for later individual use. You could also freeze them in an ice-cube tray and store in a large Ziploc bag for easy use.
