Homemade vegetable stock is easy to make and, unlike bone broth,
only needs to simmer for approximately 30 to 60 minutes. It is a simple
and delicious way to add flavor and nutrients to any dish.
Basic principles:
- Save scrap of vegetables in a Ziploc bag
in the freezer until ready to use.
- Start with cold water.
- Just 4 ingredients are needed to make a
good vegetable stock: carrots, parsley, celery, and bay leaves.
- The onion family can overpower stock so
go easy. Instead, try using the outer skin of onions and leek tops.
- Cut vegetables into small pieces.
- Cook down (reduce) your stock without a
lid. For every 12 cups of water you want to reduce the stock by
approximately 2 cups (or approximately ½ inch).
- 1 dried shiitake mushroom per cup of
water produces a richer stock. You can also use a handful of
lentils; however, lentils don't produce as rich a stock as mushrooms.
- When using parsley, thyme, or other
fresh herbs, use the stems too.
- I don't recommended adding salt or
salty ingredients to stock. Salt changes the flavor and you can
always add salt to the final dish if desired.
- An additional note about salt. Many cooks recommend adding salt to
vegetables when boiling them to help retain their color. However, when
making stock we are discarding the vegetables and saving the liquid
portion. The goal is to extract as much flavor and nutrients as
possible from the vegetables into the liquid.
- Additional vegetables, herbs, and
spices can be used according to your preference.
- Some suggestions: pea pods, chopped
greens, such as kale, beet greens, collard greens, chard, dandelion, cilantro or
other greens; daikon or white radish root and tops, eggplant, asparagus
(butt ends), the cob leftover from corn (always use organic corn), fennel
(stalks and trimmings), bell peppers, winter squash cut into large cubes,
root vegetables, such as turnips, parsnips, and rutabagas; seaweed: nori, dulse,
wakame, kelp, or kombu (seaweed won't add a lot of flavor, but
it is a good source of iodine which is frequently lacking in the
American diet); cabbage, fresh ginger, garlic, mushrooms, thyme, marjoram,
basil, potato parings…really, anything you like. (You don't need to use all
these, just choose a few according to your preference).
- Choose organic vegetables from a reliable source whenever
possible.
- Purchase produce from the local farmer's Market whenever possible.
Simmer all ingredients without a lid on low heat until reduced by
approximately 2 cups for every 12 cups of water used (approximately 30 to 60
minutes). Strain off the vegetables and save the liquid stock.
Discard or add the vegetables to your pet’s food. Store stock in individual
serving sized containers in the freezer or refrigerator.
Use your vegetable stock just like you use bone broth (see
previous post).
