Bone Broth: The Foundation of Soul Warming Soups

A cure-all in traditional households and the magic ingredient in classic gourmet cuisine, stock or broth made from bones of beef, lamb, chicken and fish helps build strong bones, soothes sore throats, nurtures the sick, puts vigor in the step and sparkle in love life–so say grandmothers, midwives and healers.  Stocks and broths are the beginning of soul-warming soups and matchless sauces.

Meat and fish stocks play a role in all traditional cuisines—French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, African, South American, Middle Eastern and Russian. In America, stock went into gravy and soups and stews. That was when most animals were slaughtered locally and nothing went to waste. Bones, hooves, knuckles, carcasses and tough meat went into the stock pot and filled the house with the aroma of love. Today we buy individual filets and boneless chicken breasts, or grab fast food on the run, and stock has disappeared from the American tradition.

GRANDMOTHER KNEW BEST

Science validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulphur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons–stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.

When broth is cooled, it congeals due to the presence of gelatin. The use of gelatin as a therapeutic agent goes back to the ancient Chinese. Gelatin was probably the first functional food. Just as vitamins occupy the center of the stage in nutritional investigations today, so two hundred years ago gelatin held a position in the forefront of food research. Gelatin was universally acclaimed as a most nutritious foodstuff particularly by the French. Although gelatin is not a complete protein, containing only the amino acids arginine and glycine in large amounts, it acts as a protein sparer, helping the poor stretch a few morsels of meat into a complete meal

Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk.



ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Stock or broth begins with bones, some pieces of meat and fat, vegetables and good water. For beef and lamb broth, the meat is browned in a hot oven to form compounds that give flavor and color. Then all goes in the pot–meat, bones, vegetables and cold water. Adding vinegar to the broth helps extract calcium.

The broth is heated slowly and once the boil begins, heat is reduced to just barely simmering. A scum will rise to the surface. One of the basic principles of the culinary art is that this should be carefully removed with a spoon. Otherwise the broth will be ruined by strange flavors. Besides, the stuff looks terrible. “Always Skim” is the first commandment of good cooks.

Two hours simmering is enough to extract flavors and gelatin from fish broth. Larger animals take longer–all day for broth made from chicken, turkey or duck and overnight for beef and lamb broth.

Broth should then be strained. Perfectionists will want to chill the broth to remove the fat. Stock will keep several days in the refrigerator or may be frozen in plastic containers. Boiled down it concentrates and becomes a demi-glaze that can be reconstituted into a sauce by adding water.

CUTTING CORNERS

Research on gelatin came to an end in the 1950s because the food companies discovered how to induce Maillard reactions and produce meat-like flavors in the laboratory. In a General Foods Company report issued in 1947, chemists predicted that almost all natural flavors would soon be chemically synthesized. And following the Second World War, food companies also discovered monosodium glutamate (MSG), a food ingredient the Japanese had invented in 1908 to enhance food flavors, including meat-like flavors. Humans actually have receptors on the tongue for glutamate. It is the protein in food that the human body recognizes as meat.

Any protein can be hydrolyzed to produce a base containing free glutamic acid or MSG. When the industry learned how to make the flavor of meat in the laboratory, using inexpensive proteins from grains and legumes, the door was opened to a flood of new products including bouillon cubes, dehydrated soup mixes, sauce mixes, TV dinners and condiments with a meaty taste. “Homemade” soup in most restaurants begins with a powdered soup base that comes in a package or can and almost all canned soups and stews contain MSG, often found in ingredients called hydrolyzed proteins. The fast food industry could not exist without MSG and artificial meat flavors to make “secret” sauces and spice mixes that beguile the consumer into eating bland and tasteless food.

Short cuts mean big profits for producers but the consumer are short changed. When homemade stocks were pushed out by cheap substitutes, an important source of minerals disappeared from the American diet. The thickening effects of gelatin could be mimicked with emulsifiers but the health benefits were lost.

Most serious, however, were the problems posed by MSG, problems the industry has worked very hard to conceal from the public. In 1957, scientists found that mice became blind and obese when MSG was administered by feeding tube. In 1969, MSG-induced lesions were found in the hypothalamus region of the brain. Other studies all point in the same direction–MSG is a neurotoxic substance that causes a wide range of reactions, from temporary headaches to permanent brain damage.

Why do consumers react to factory-produced MSG and not to naturally occurring glutamic acid found in food? One theory is that the glutamic acid produced by hydrolysis in factories contains many isomers in the right-handed form, whereas natural glutamic acid in meat and meat broths contains only the left-handed form. L-glutamic acid is a precursor to neurotransmitters, but the synthetic form, d-glutamic acid, may stimulate the nervous system in pathological ways.

A STOCK-POT ON EVERY STOVE

Peasant societies still make broth. It is a necessity in cultures that do not use milk because only stock made from bones and dairy products provides calcium in a form that the body can easily assimilate. It is also a necessity when meat is a luxury item, because gelatin in properly made broth helps the body use protein in an efficient way.

What we all needs is healthy “fast food” and the only way to provide this for every household to produce their own broth that provides the basic ingredient for soups and sauces and stews. Understandable this will probably not be possible as many people live overwhelmingly busy lives. 

Every household can benefit from these health-enhancing broths made traditionally by connecting with local farmers who are raising the “clean” animals. The mission of many small farmers is to provide their customers with these exceptionally beneficial foods. 

Here at Harmonys Way Family Farm this has been our guiding principle since 1998 when we became serious about our health and providing our community with local, traditionally raised food. We have been producing beef, lamb, pork, chicken and eggs for local families for many years. 

A HOUSEHOLD STAPLE

Bone broths are a staple in our household. We use them for so many ways. They find their way into rice, chili, roasted meats, as a warming beverage and of course soups. Last winter we used them every day, three times a day for six weeks as we went through the first stage of GAPS.  

They have been on our bucket list to add to our collection of traditional foods that we offer for a few years.

So now, (drum roll please) we are introducing the first offering in our lineup of bone broths. Lamb broth from our grass-fed lamb.

If you want to learn more about our bone broth we are at the Grande Prairie Farmers Market every Friday 4 to 7 pm and Saturday 10 am to 3 pm. We would love to chat with you about our farm fresh foods and would be honoured to serve your family.

To learn more about bone broth you can check out The Weston A. Price Foundation. They have loads of information about traditional eating. They have been a huge benefit to our family’s health.

 If you don’t want to miss our discussions on the importance of local farms and the role they play in your journey to traditional eating hit the subscribe button below. We invite you along on our healthy living journey as we practice the things learned long ago and new ones we are learning everyday.