Use this broth for cooking, or on its own as a soothing and nutritious drink.

Makes 2 quarts of broth, or a little more.

Ingredients

1-2 quarts loosely packed bones, any kind you have

pieces of skin, if you have them

1/2 cup apple cider or white wine vinegar (or brown rice vinegar)

2 dried star anise pods

1/4 tsp dried allspice berries

1/4 tsp spice cloves

1/4 tsp black peppercorns

1/4 tsp celery seeds

3-4 garlic cloves

prepped vegetable remnants (ends, leaves, onion skins, etc. – no yam, malanga, papaya or cassava peels)

water to cover

salt to taste

Directions

Place all ingredients into a crock pot and cook on high for one hour. Switch to low and cook up to 24 more hours. If you prefer, use a pressure cooker on high for a couple of hours.

Let cool until you feel safe putting it in glass quart jars and storing in the refrigerator. Ideally, when the broth is cool, it will have a jelly-like consistency. It will become liquid when heated.

Notes: We save the remnants when prepping vegetables, and the bones and skin from any meat we have cooked, in freezer bags. That way, it’s all ready to pull out at broth-making time. We try to make broth each week. The collagen in these animal parts is good for human bones, skin and cartilage. The vinegar helps pull minerals out of all the ingredients to make them available for your body.

As it cooks, if we need broth for anything we are making, we lift the lid and scoop some out to use.