Making bone broth is a fairly straight forward process, but there are important steps that need to be followed.  You can use any kind of bones – beef, chicken, pork, even fish (recommended you use an entire fish, with head inlcuded. Large beef leg bones will also contain bone marrow which has additional health benefits.  Chicken necks and feet will contribute gelaton, which is excellent, but my butcher told me health regulations are now preventing the sale of these parts in many stores because they are particularly suseptable to bacteria.

You want to start by roasting all the bones in the oven at 450 degrees for at least 1/2 hour. Then put them in a pot of cold water, turn up the heat and  bring them to a boil. Once they have boiled, skim off the foam that forms at the top of the pot – this contains impurities and should be removed.

Transfer to a slow cooker, add water ONLY til the bones are cover – no more –  and cook low and long – we’re talking a minimum of 24 hours up to as much as 48. The longer you let the bones cook, the more minerals will be pulled out of the bones and into the broth. And remember, it must be Low heat.

You can add onions, garlic, carrots and celerly for added flavor and nutrition. Spices and seasonings can be added, but do so only in last couple of hour or the taste may be diluted. Since the purpose of making bone broth is often as an anti-inflammatory, or to heal leaky gut, or to heal autoimmune disease, I add tumeric because it contains curcumin which helps heal all of those conditions.

When you are doing cooking the broth , it is important to cook it as quickly as possible to help prevent the growth of bacteria.  Some recommend adding ice cubes to the broth. I set my crock pot out on the patio on a cool fall night. ||Get it into glass jars as soon as it is cooled and into the fridge or freezer asap. It will keep for 1 week in the fridge but it should be boiled before using.

You can drink it straight, just as it is, or you can use it to cook veggies, mash potatoes, or use as a base for soup.

When you reridgerate it, it should form a solid, lard-like coating on top. This is called broth butter and can be scooped off and stored in an air tight container in the fridge and used for frying. That way you carry forth the nutrition into your cooking.

If the broth itself ends up gelatinous, you’ve really hit the jack pot – all that gelatin is super-healthy , contains a lot of collagen, and you’ll really notice the effects if you have joint problems. Its also great for hair, skin and nails (can you say wrinke-reversal?)

According to DrJockers.com, it is especially important to find stock bones from humanely raised healthy animals.  This would include 100% grass-fed cows, bison, lamb and organic poultry bones.  Wild game like deer and antelope are fantastic as well.

Conventionally raised animals that are fed a diet of genetically modified grains loaded with pesticides and herbicides and other chemicals and heavy metals should never be used.  The body naturally stores many toxins in the fatty portions of the bone and that is what you are consuming in the bone broth.

It is best to know the farm and farmer where you are getting your stock bones.  The more grass and green foods the animals eat the more rich the nutritional value of the meat and bone contents.  Beef can and should be 100% green-fed while poultry should have lots of pasture in their diet although they will also need seeds, worms, insects, etc.

I did not have the luxury of seeking out grass fed animal bones – just whatever my local grocer could offer. However, I dream of a world where every grocery store carries only meat from animals that have been humanely raised and grass fed. That’s the compassionate animal lover in me speaking.

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