Bone broth is a staple in our house. We drink it straight, make soup out of it, boil veggies in it and even add it to homemade baby food. Bone broth is a superfood and  underutilized in our society nowadays. Thankfully it appears to be making a comeback!

Here is a short list of the benefits of bone broth:

• Helps build healthy bones: bone broth contains high amounts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and other nutrients that play an important role in healthy bone formation.  The minerals in bone broth are highly bioavailable making them easy to absorb and digest.  
• Reduces joint pain and inflammation: Chondroitin sulphates, glucosamine, and other compounds extracted from the boiled down cartilage are present in bone broth. The same compounds found in over-the -counter supplements.  Bone broth is a much nicer and tastier
• Fights inflammation: Amino acids such as glycine, proline, and arginine all have anti-inflammatory effects. 
• Promotes healthy hair and nails: This is due to the gelatin in the broth. And who doesn’t want great hair and nails??
• Inhibits infection caused by cold and flu viruses, etc. Homemade chicken soup really does help to fight sickness!  Who knew those old wives tales were right?
• Helps heal your gut, and promotes healthy digestion: The gelatin found in bone broth can help leaky gut syndrome and autoimmune disorders.
• Taste: Let’s be honest, taste is a benefit too.  Homemade broth tastes so much better than that canned or boxed stuff you get from the supermarket.  Good broth can elevate your dishes to a whole new level of yumminess.

The key to a good bone broth is allowing the bones to simmer at a low heat for a long time.  And by long time, I mean a minimum of 12 hours.  For beef bones, 24-48 is preferred. 
So, what is a busy working person to do?  Could you leave your broth on the stove to simmer for 48 hours while you sleep and work?  The simple answer is yes, but I know that a lot of people don’t feel comfortable leaving home with a pot bubbling away on an open flame or electric element. 

Using just a slow cooker, doesn’t provide a large quantity and as a busy mom, I like to make up big batches and freeze them for future use. 

My solution is a combination of slow cooker and large stockpot. Place your bones, water, vinegar and sea salt in the slow cooker and let it go for 24 to 48 hours.  Top off with water as needed to keep the liquid at the desired level.  It doesn’t look pretty, but I promise it will turn into wonderful broth!
After 24 to 48 hours take everything in the slow cooker and dump it in your stock pot.  Add your carrots, celery, onions and herbs.  Top off with water and bring it to a boil.  Once the broth has reached a boil, turn down and simmer for about 4 hours.  Voila! You have the wonderful flavor from the veggies and herbs, plus the benefit of the bones simmering for a long period of time.  All with no worries about burning the house down.

After 4 hours, remove from the heat, strain and put into mason jars or other containers.  I freeze any broth that I won’t be using in the next 3 days.

Recipe

• 3-4 lbs of bones (2/3 cartilaginous to 1/3 bone preferred)
• 4 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3 large celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
• Salt
• Water
• 2 sprigs Sage, 2 sprigs Rosemary and 4 sprigs Thyme

Add the bones and apple cider vinegar in a slow cooker.  Add enough water just to cover the bones. Turn on low and cook for 24-48 hours. Top off with water as needed.

After 48 hours, place bones and liquid in a stock pot.  Add carrots, onions and celery.  Add water to pot and make sure there is at least 2 inches of water above the bones and vegetables.   Add about 2 TBSP of salt. Simmer for 3.5 hours.

After 3.5 hours add in herbs. Simmer for another 30 mins.  Taste broth.  Add more salt until desired flavor is reached.

Remove from heat. Cool, strain and place in jars.