As I dish up my chicken broth, warm, nourishing liquid is ladled into the bowls from my stock pot, simmering with bits of carrot, parsley, celery, and tiny, shimmering fat globules. This nutrient dense, life-promoting broth is anti-aging, has numerous benefits for health and for culinary use, as well.
This broth makes into the simplest of healing soups. When you are knocked out by a cold or coming back from flu, sipping several bowls can help open up your respiratory pathways, build your immune system, and simply make you feel so much better. A true comfort food, it even seems to brighten the dreariest of days.
When I feed this to my hungry family, half-way through the bowl, they invariably say, “Hmm, this is so wonderfully warming. It makes me feel SO good!” The secret, they know, is the broth. When you use a rich broth as a base, it makes everything better. Without exception, they are satisfied, warmed, and strengthened. Plus, they don’t feel hungry all the time because they are getting full nutrient value.
The chicken tractor the guys built during our farming days
First, you must start with the healthiest chicken you can find, and I admit, that can be difficult in this world so tied into quick and easy! When we were on the farm, we raised our own chicken; we knew the chickens got plenty bugs, seeds, our own feed, exercise and sunshine while on mineral-rich soil.
Properly raised pastured chicken is as good as gold. I purchase chicken from a nearby farmer that lets the birds run and get sunshine and bugs in the summer. I like to buy a larger number (10-15) in the fall, so I can freeze ‘summer chicken’.
To find a source close to you, go to EatWild and click your state or Canada. I try to buy local, but also purchase at Trader Joe’s, Costco and others that carry chicken that is labeled organic (no trace antibiotics, GMO-feed, or hormones).
Getting Full Value From a Whole Chicken
Fifteen or more years ago a light bulb came on in my head. Remembering what my grandmother did, I realized how convenient and economical it was to make homemade soup stock, starting with the leftover carcass and leavings from a previous meal of roast turkey or chicken. Now my birds would have two lives! First, they are roasted to a perfect golden brown in the oven and served as a hearty main dish. Then, their bones are used to make the perfect broth.
How To Begin
The cooking time for stock is at very least eight hours, but hands-on time is fifteen minutes, tops.
Start by placing all the parts into a stockpot (with a lid) and just cover the bones with water. Add 1/5 c. cider vinegar (I use Bragg’s organic vinegar) to help the bones to break down, giving up their minerals, collagen, and gelatin into the water. After an hour or so of the acid soak, turn on the heat and lightly simmer it (no rolling boil) on low for 12 hours or overnight if you wish. Your home will smell absolutely marvelous! This is the way we have cooked for centuries.
If need be, take 30 seconds 2 or 3 times to skim off any foam that forms.
Drawing Up and Storing the Broth
After the simmering period and while the broth is still very hot, I carefully fill waiting clean canning jars using a stainless funnel and 1/2 or 1 cup measuring scoop. When the broth is at a low level in the stockpot, I remove the bigger bones and pour the remaining liquid and small bones through a large sieve. Discard all bones.
For every quart jar, I add a half teaspoon sea salt to lengthen the keeping time in the refrigerator. I cap the jars once they are cooled just a bit and refrigerate within a hour. Not allowing them to sit open to any contamination in the air is the secret of my broth keeping very well in the refrigerator between 2 and 3 weeks. It will also freeze beautifully with a little head room in the container for expansion.
Any properly prepared broth will be golden and jiggly after you refrigerate it.
How Much To Use
I usually use 1/2 stock, 1/2 water for cooking, but there is no need to dilute (unless you want to ration it). The gelatinous nature of it gives a soup “body.” Use broth for cooking:
- soups or stews
- beans, rice, wild rice (they absorb the broth)
- quinoa, barley, bulgar wheat, etc.
Sometimes, the only thing I add is skillet-sauteed (caramelized) onion, potato, carrot, celery, parsley, garlic and bits of cayenne pepper for some heat. I sauté everything until soft in coconut oil or olive oil and then add it to the broth for amazing flavor.
Sometimes, if I’m really pressed for time I don’t saute at all. I simply put my additions into the stock to simmer and season with sea salt, pepper, and my favorite blend of herbs.
Broth has been a vital part of fighting colds and flu in our home for years. Chicken broth is one of those foods that make you feel like you’re a really good cook, and you will be serving your family one of the most strengthening foods known to man.
“She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar. She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.” ~Prov. 31: 14-15
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Thanks for reading!
Joy says
Hello, Jacqueline!
I very recently discovered your blog, and I love it! I had to leave a comment and say that I make bone broth the same way, and I even use a dish that looks just like your white one pictured above! I also bake/roast the bird (chicken or turkey) and we have it for a meal that night. Then I throw all the bones, skin, and fat into the crock-pot and let the broth simmer all night. It is so delicious and nourishing. Thanks for hosting the link-up!
Annie Kate says
Hey, it seems like we’re all broth-makers around here. 🙂
The one thing I’ve been doing lately is simmering it in the crockpot for much longer. First I did it due to unexpected changes to meal plans, but now I try to have a broth going for at least 24 hours, if not 48 or even longer. It seems to make it richer and more filling.
Thanks for another great post.
Annie Kate
Lori says
Oh…that soup looks amazing. I have been making the chicken broth for years and love it! Your blog looks like my kind of blog. I am your newest follower and excited about following you. I linked up an article about producing fruit bearing daughters! It SO important how we raise them.
Elisa says
That soup looks delicious. That’s always how I make broth. Then I let the baby chew on the bones for calcium. That bowl in the last picture is so pretty. Wasn’t able to join encourage each other Wednesday today, but I’ll be reading some. Just found out hubby will go to Afghanistan for 11 months (don’t mention it on my blog b/c we haven’t officially announced it yet)…but I’m feeling a little worried, but I know it will be fine and God has a plan. I’ll be reading some of the other encouraging notes to remind myself of God’s promises.
Theresa says
I haven’t made stock in quite some time – mostly because I can not find good quality organic whole chickens like we used to. 🙁 The soup in the last picture looks amazing!!!
Faythe @ GrammyMouseTails says
golden & wiggily? wow, I guess I have done it right at least a few times. I almost never see organic meat around here, other things, but meat is hard to find. even with all the local farms I only see eggs for sale?? I love making soup from my left over turkey! got me hungry!
MIRIAM LUIZA says
Oi Jaqueline!
Que bela aula eu tive ao ler seu post!
O versículo que voc~e usou deu certinho. Abraços!
Hi Jacqueline!
What a beautiful lesson I had to read your post!
The verse that you’ve is just right. Hugs!
Connie Smiley says
Hi Jacqueline-
Your soup looks so delicious, I can almost smell it! We do something similar with wild turkey, and it’s great having that good stock in the freezer.
lisa says
Jacqueline, this soup looks wonderful, and truly so perfect for this time of year. Thank you so much for sharing this and your wonderful photographs at The Creative Exchange.
Sending you wishes for a wonderful Thursday!
lisa.
Lui says
Ooopsy! I came here from Lisa’s CreativeExchange where you link this post but you forgot to link back to her. I’m sure you didn’t mean it or maybe I missed TCE link somewhere. I hope I just missed it.
I like your soup and I agree that organics is the best. But the organic chicken there is pricey compared to the ones here at less than $10! I know this because we only have chicken and fish for meats.
Tauna says
I make broth this way as well but was taught to throw in pieces of celery, onion, carrot, etc. while it cooks. I’ll try apple cider vinegar next time. Thanks!
Adriana says
I wish I knew bout this earlier…I just found your site! TY!
Karen says
My friend, we always make our chickens do double duty but I hadn’t realized the benefits of the broth. We usually don’t have “good” chicken, but just last week, my husband and I stopped in to Trader Joe’s and they were selling the same chicken you show here and we picked up two. So now I will have to try making the broth! Thanks so much for sharing the wisdom that you have. I so appreciate it! <3
Jacqueline says
How funny the timing on my post and your getting two organic birds! I am so glad, as you will be getting all the super benefits! How long have we ‘known’ each other now, Karen? You are a good friend! 🙂
((Hugs!))
Toni says
I like to add an extra use to the leftover bones. After the bone broth has been stored, I then put the bones back into a crockpot cover with water and cook an additional 12-24 hours (long enough to soften the bones and cook down the water). Let the mix cool and blend in a mixer, will make a thick gravy texture. I mix this chicken gravy to my pets food. So rich and full of all the same great benefits we enjoy. They love it!!!
Jacqueline says
Toni, that is a great point, and I’ll bet your pet’s coats are thick and shiny! Thanks!
Kristin Deritis says
Hello,
In reference to the lupus symptoms you were having.. how often and how much bone broth did you drink upon finding relief?
Jacqueline says
Kristin,
I drank bone broth every day and used it to cook organic beans, rice, quinoa, rolled oats, some teff and amaranth, and in about any recipe instead of water. We did spend extra on organic. We mineralized the farm soils the grasses grew on and that the cattle ate, plus they had unlimited free kelp and mineral, tested ‘safe’ well water, sunshine, no hormones or antibiotics, and nothing but grass to eat summer and winter. I got plenty of sunshine, exercise and hard work from gardening and cleaning and play with the children, we sang and read aloud a lot (lower stress as best possible on a farm), took targeted supplements like turmeric and ginger and cinnamon in capsules (anti-inflammatories), ate low sugar, had our own raw honey, ate lots of Norwegian sardines (with skin and bone in olive oil only), took cod liver oil -2 TBSP/d (Fermented is best!), free-range eggs and chicken, lots of Tropical Traditions coconut oil, and soaked most nuts and all beans. I could go on, but it really helped. It took 4 years, but I would not say I have lupus now at all, thank the Lord! I am praying for you, and I hope this is helpful in some way to you. Nothing is perfect, including what I just shared, but calling on the Lord alone gave us/me what we needed for that time. Ask the Lord Jesus for wisdom and He WILL supply it if asked in faith. That is a promise! Love you, J
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfareb and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” ~Jeremiah 29: 11-13