“Good bone broth will resurrect the dead.” A South American proverb
Bone broth is nourishing to our bodies in so many ways. It is a wonderful source of electrolytes, collagen and protein. It fills your belly and warms your soul. There are so many ways to change the flavor of bone broth. It will often be judged by the amount of “gel” it produces. This gel is collagen.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in our body found in bones, muscle, skin and tendons. Our body makes its own collagen but this process declines with age, most notably after menopause.
There are collagen supplements but none better than homemade bone broth. Pro-tip, chicken feet provide the most collagen so consider adding them to your broth.
Collagen may help with osteoarthritis. It is believed that as you absorb collagen, it is taken up in to the cartilage to strengthen our supporting structures around our joints.
Worried about your skin? Collagen is not transferred through the skin well as it is such a large molecule. There is some evidence for laser therapy to stimulate your body to make more collagen.
What can we do to prevent collagen loss?
Lower your sugar intake. High sugar leads to creation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) which can damage proteins
Stop smoking
Get out of the sun and put on that sunscreen
Stop aging (we haven’t figured this one out yet)
Bone broth is also a wonderful source of the following nutrients.
Iron
Glutamate (likely helpful with gut inflammation)
Glycine (likely helpful with sleep)
Vitamins A, K, selenium, zinc
Traditionally, bone broth is allowed to cook slowly for 12-18 hours. It fills my home with a wonderful smell. This time, I thought Id try my instant pot and see if it could cut back on some time. Instead of 18 hours, I used my instant pot and this broth was done in 1 hour. I added cardamon, thyme chili oil and cinnamon to this batch. There is no limit to the flavor combination but a few steps must stay the same for broth.
Place the bones the pot (chicken or beef, your choice)
Cover them with water (don’t overfill or the broth will be too dilute)
Add apple cider vinegar (tsp to a tbsp)
Generous amount of sea salt
Pepper (Peppercorns work best)
Veggies (onions, garlic, carrots and celery)
Give it a try. Make extra a freeze it. I promise you will never want to buy grocery store broth again.