Bone Broth

So bone broth has been a favorite of mine for a couple of years now. I think that I first read about bone broth and its many benefits in Dr Cates excellent book Deep Nutrition, and Dr Cate explains in far more detail the science behind the benefits of bone broth. Suffice to say that bones contain an abundance of minerals that most of us would benefit from more of, such as such as Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, Phosphorus, Zinc, and amino acids such as Collagen, Gelatine, Glycosaminoglycans, Glycine, Proline, Glutamine. The reported benefits of consuming bone broth include improved skin elasticity, bone and joint health, gut health and brain health. It makes sense that to grow and repair your body you need to consume enough of the building blocks that are required, and bones seem to be a great source of many.

The thing that initially appealed to me was the undeniable heritage of bone broth. I'm convinced that we as a species have been consuming bone broth as long as we have been cooking meat. Ancient man would have wanted to extract all nutrients from the animal we know he would have been eating, and boiling the bones is a simple effective method of doing this. It is widely accepted that bone broth has been an integral part of many if not all traditional societies and cultures, for me bone broth is about as Paleo as you can get!

I was fairly easily convinced as to the benefits of incorporating bone broth into my diet so it was time to give it a try, and that's when I was completely hooked, not only did it taste good it was so simple to make!

Bone broth has become relatively trendy these days so its now possible to purchase good quality broth in the shops. However I would encourage you to have a go at making your own. There are many recipes out there on the internet for producing your own bone broth and I will detail the process that I use below. Have a read and then have a go, just get yourself a slow cooker and you cant really go wrong with this one!

1. Get some bones, like the rest of your food quality is important and as any toxins that an animal is exposed to are often secreted in the fat stores and bone marrow try and get yourself some grass fed organic bones if you can. Big chunky bones are best for this but you can use anything, in-fact chicken carcasses are great to throw in as well.

2. Pre-roast your bones on 180 deg C for about 30mins. This stage isn't essential but I find it adds to the flavour of the finished product.

3. Chuck your roasted bones in the slow cooker, cover with water, add some seasoning (optional) and simmer away on a low setting for 24 - 48 hrs. 48 is probably best but if you just cant wait I understand. The time will depend on the size of the bones as well (bigger bones you'll want to leave in longer to extract all the goodness).

4. Whilst its cooking give it an occasional stir and try and break the bones up a bit to help get all that goodness out.

5. Turn off and allow to cool for 15 mins or so.

6. Strain into a suitable container and there you have it, bone broth!

7. This can be cooled and kept in the fridge for a few days, or frozen to keep longer. You can freeze as ice cubes for easier use later.

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So there you have it, Bone Broth, you can either use the broth in your cooking or have it as a warm beverage, just heat it up in a mug and that's it. I tend to have a mug of bone broth most days.