Whole food nutritionists advocate for the use of pasture-raised animal bone broth for nutrients such as collagen and glycine to support cellular messaging and connective tissue health. You can purchase ready-made bone broth at natural food stores, but it’s quite easy to make your own. Use it in place of oils for sauteeing onions and veggies, and as part or all of the liquid for steaming rice or seed grains. Bone broth from pastured chickens, bison, or grass-fed/finished beef bones adds a satisfying flavor to any dish.
Instructions
You’ll need a crock pot for this one, as well as herbs, carrots, celery stalks, chopped onion, pure water, and a pastured-chicken (no antibiotics/hormones and all natural foods — no additional grains or “vegetarian feed”, which can often contain GMO soy and other inflammatory grains). If you’d like to skip the meat-cooking part and go straight to creating bone broth, you may do so by using leftover chicken bones, beef or bison bones (natural groceries often sell these frozen).
1. Rinse off the whole chicken, removing any giblets from the cavity. Add these organs to the cook pot to provide more minerals. Set it in about 2 c. water in the pot. Set the crock pot on LOW.
2. Add herbs and seasonings on top of the chicken as you wish (rosemary, thyme, dried basil, or a natural herb blend). Surround the bird with carrot and celery stalks, sliced onion, and some garlic as you wish. Add salt and pepper. Set the lid on top and cook it for 4-6 hours, or until the meat is done.
3. Remove the whole chicken to a platter to cool slightly before pulling the meat from the bones. Save the meat in portions in the fridge or freezer for quick-prep entrees.
4. Return all of the bones and cartilage to the crock pot. Add a couple cups more water — enough to cover all of the bones — and cook on low so the broth simmers. Four hours may be sufficient, but you can let it go for 10-18 hours if you wish (additional time creates additional histamine, so if that’s an issue for you, stick with the shorter time).
5. When the time is up, strain out all of the veggies and the “parts” for compost. You will have a nice supply of clear broth. Let it cool and refrigerate or freeze it in portions to use as needed. A good broth will be gelatinous when cool. You’ll see a layer of fat rise to the top – if you’ve used a clean-sourced meat, you don’t have to worry about extra toxins coming through with this fat. Use as much or as little of that as you wish, as our brains and cells can put it to use.