Bone broth can be made with just about any animal bones. My favorite to use are beef bone marrow or chicken carcasses. Chicken broth offers a milder taste than does beef bone marrow. If you are new to making broths, you might want to start with chicken. I like to use vegetable scraps to flavor the broth instead of whole vegetables. I save onion ends and peels, garlic peels, kale and broccoli stems, carrot and celery ends, etc. I store a gallon size bag in the freezer with these scraps every week and when I am ready to make stock, I add the veggie scraps! The addition of apple cider vinegar is to encourage maximum extraction of the minerals from the bones.
Ingredients
1 lb of bones from grass fed or pasture raised animals
2-3 cups of veggie scraps (or 1/2 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 carrot, 1 celery if using whole veggies)
2 Tbsp. unfiltered apple cider vinegar
1.5 Tbsp. or more unrefined sea salt
Optional- parsley or other herbs and black pepper
Filtered water filled almost to the top of a large crock-pot or 2 gallon stockpot
Instructions
If you are using a chicken carcass, the bones have already been roasted. If you are using beef marrow bones or any bones that have not been cooked, to improve flavor,first roast bones in oven in a roasting pan for 30 minutes at 350. Place bones in (preferably) a crock-pot or stockpot. Add veggies or veggie scraps, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Pour filtered water over bones and vegetables until they are covered. Using a crock-pot is preferential because it is best to simmer the broth for at least 24 hours. This could be more difficult to do if cooking on a stove top. If using a crock-pot, place on high for 4 hours and then on low for the rest of the duration. If using the stove top, bring to a boil and then simmer for the duration of time. After 24 hours, cool broth down. When cool, strain broth through a strainer. If you use chicken, you will notice that the chicken bones crumble between your fingers. I have found the vegetables and crumbly bones to be a good treat for dogs! You don’t have to worry about them choking on the bones because they are extremely soft. Likewise, if you’re using a beef marrow bone, I am sure your dog would make good use of it after you’re done with it. Store broth in mason jars. Stores in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or store in the freezer for later use.