What should you do with your vegetable scraps when you can’t compost? Up until we moved overseas, we had always had a compost bin and/or chickens to share our veggie scraps with. Once you get used to doing something useful with your scraps, it’s hard to simply throw them away!
I had been making bone and veggie broth for years, but always used whole, fresh vegetables. And I was selective with which vegetables I added… usually just a mirepoix mix, with the exception of mushrooms. When I started making it with my scraps, I was using every vegetable scrap I had: stems from my kale salad, wilted outer leaves from sauerkraut, tomato greens—all the things my chickens and compost pile gobbled up! Sometimes I zero in on nutrition so much, I forget that we’re going to have to eat whatever comes out on the other side!
So, this is not a post on “How To Use Every Vegetable Scrap In Your Kitchen.” That makes super gross broth. This is a gentle encouragement for you to keep a ziplock in your freezer that you put all your onion, garlic, carrot, bell pepper, celery and mushroom scraps into. What you find on the other side of that is INCREDIBLY FLAVORFUL broth. We also throw any bones we acquire in that ziplock as well. The gelatin that comes from a chicken leg barbecue is amazing!
One of my favorite aspects of “homesteading” is resourcefulness. Being able to turn what we, in our modern American culture, have deemed trash, into some of the most nourishing foods makes me feel rich! We throw these ingredients away, only to go spend way too much money on what these scraps create!
So, how do you turn kitchen scraps into broth?
Let that ziplock bag fill up with all your discarded vegetables that you want your broth to taste like, and bones. When it’s full, and you have the time, dump the frozen contents out into a pot big enough to hold it all. Top with filtered water, only covering the scraps by about 1/2 an inch (for max flavor). For a gallon ziplock bag, I start with adding about a tablespoon of salt. You can taste at the end and see if you need more. Add some bay leaves, and if you have it, a thick sheet of seaweed. I don’t eat much fish, so I love finding ways to get more iodine in my diet. Seaweed will not make your broth fishy in the slightest! Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for a few hours.
Most sources say to let simmer for 12-24 hours. I find that I don’t love the flavor at that point, and have a hard time using it. With only simmering for a few hours, we still end up with a lot of gelatin and a ton of flavor. I try to start mine in the morning so that I can shut it off by noon and give it a few hours to cool. More times than I care to admit, I will come into the kitchen right before bed to do the final sweep through, only to see that big pot staring me down! Don’t do that to yourself!
Once it’s jarred, you can refrigerate it if you want to see proof of your gelatin extraction (if you used bones). Or, use it right away. You need to use it within a week if you’re not freezing it. If it’s not soup season, use it for the liquid in your rice or any time liquid is called for in your cooking. I like to make gut-healthy mayonnaise with it!
Please let me know if you give this broth a try! Leave a comment below or message me on instagram!
How to make Vegetable Scrap Broth:
Vegetable Scrap Broth
Turn your kitchen garbage into this nourishing superfood!
Ingredients
- Vegetable broth tastes best with a mix of:
- Onions
- Carrots
- Celery
- Bell Peppers
- Mushrooms
- Optional:
- Dried mushrooms
- Bay leaves
- Large, thick sheet of seaweed
- If you have leftover chicken or roast bones, add those in too!
Instructions
- As you are cooking, when you have any of the listed vegetable scraps and bones, put them in a gallon ziplock bag in the freezer.
- Once the bag is full, dump contents into a large pot.
- Bring to a boil, then turn down and simmer for about 3 hours.
- Let cool, then strain and jar.
- Store in refrigerator, and use within a week.
- Freeze for up to 3 months if you won‘t be using right away.
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