Safe and soothing, bone broth is truly a comfort food in every sense. Bone broth can be used in a multitude of recipes to give moisture and volume. It can be used as a base to make soups, sauces and stocks. Bone broth can be made with almost any wild animal or pastured animal bones. Broth minus the bones can also be made from a variety of vegetables but will be missing some key components such as collagen and gelatin.
Bone broth was once a very popular staple and one of the first functional foods. It was used to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis and ulcers. With digestive health being one of the most important aspects of a healthy body, bone broth is now used in the holistic nutrition world as a first step in providing relief of common conditions such as Colitis, Crohn’s, Leaky gut, and some mental conditions.
Bone broth or stock is one of the main foods to enable gut healing. It provides building blocks for the rapidly growing cells of the gut lining. These cells are the fastest growing cells in the human body and replace themselves every 5-7 days. Bone broth has a soothing effect on areas of inflammation in the gut. Many minerals and amino acids are leached out from the bones, marrow and gelatinous soft tissues during the long cooking process. These nutrients are easily absorbed by our digestive systems and quickly put to use in restoring health and function.
Although a simple recipe, it is not that convenient due to the long cooking time involved. I think that a slow cooker is the best way to go since you don’t have to monitor the stove, especially when you have a gas stove and don’t want to leave home with an open flame.
See recipe for homemade bone broth.
What if we don’t want to spend the day cooking bone broth and watching a bubbling pot? A company called “Ancient Nutrition” has figured out a way to make a nutritious bone broth in a powder form. Not only that, they have created a host of flavors not previously expected in bone broth. One of the advantages of this is that depending on the flavor you select you can now use the bone broth powder in shakes and smoothies and desserts, muffins, etc. The ways to use bone broth powder is limited by your imagination. We recently made chocolate-zuchinni muffins with chocolate bone broth powder as a key ingredient to give the chocolate flavor.
During the holidays I found myself in a pinch for some quick broth and was glad to have the “Pure” flavor on hand. I found it to be consistent and flavorful and easily mixed with cold water. Although not as good as homemade, I now plan to always keep the instant powder form on hand. You can get your bone broth powders locally by stopping by RxChiro where they have all flavors in stock for $45 per container.
Resources:
Bauman, E. (2012). Therapeutic nutrition textbook, part 1. Penngrove, CA: Bauman College.
Murray, M. (2005). The encyclopedia of healing foods. New York: Atria Books. Sanfilippo, D. (2012). Practical paleo. Las Vegas, NV: Victory Belt Publishing. Sanfilippo, D. (2013). The 21 Day Sugar Detox. Las Vegas, NV: Victory Belt Publishing.
Campbell-McBride (2010). GAPS – Gut and Psychology Syndrome. United Kingdom: Medinform Publishing