Bone Broth
If you had to choose a food that was richest in healing minerals, you couldn’t go past bone broths. These are extraordinarily rich in minerals and amino acids that offer some important health benefits. In traditional meat-eating societies importance was given to eating the whole animal, and the bones were especially revered for their health-giving properties. Most of us would remember a Granny or mother making us chicken soup when we were sick, and for good reason.
Bone broth (or stock as it sometimes called) is simply made from water, seasonings, vegetables and bones with or without meat on them, beautifully
simple to prepare and very inexpensive.
The healing benefits of bone broth are numerous, with particular emphasis on gut health, joints & bones, skin and the immune system. Bone broth contains minerals in a highly bioavailable form (i.e. in a form the body can absorb easily)— calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur and trace minerals. It contains the broken down material from cartilage and tendons- just the stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, which are often sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.
Bone broth has a powerfully healing effect on the gut. With our modern diets tending to be high in sugar & carbohydrates and low in healthy fat and minerals, the inner lining of the intestinal tract becomes inflamed and leaky. This predisposes us to all manner of illnesses, including IBS, allergies, autism, depression & migraines. Bone broth is a fundamental principle of the GAPS diet (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) by Natasha Campbell-McBride, which aims to heal and seal the gut as the primary treatment for all these disorders.
BONE BROTH RECIPE
This is borrowed from the wonderful book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. There isn’t a wrong way to make the broth- the bones, meats & vegetables can be varied.
Fill up a large soup pot with pure, filtered water.
Add 2 tbspns vinegar, plus 2 chopped carrots, 1 chopped onion and 3 stalks celery. (The vinegar is important to draw the minerals out of the bone)
Place a whole chicken into the pot; bring to a boil, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer.
The meat should start separating from the bone after about 1.5 hours. Simply remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. This meat is soft and yummy; perfect to add to salads, sandwiches etc. Place the carcass back into the pot and continue simmering the bones for as long as possible (ideally another 12-24 hours)
Add some fresh parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the broth; this will add further healthy minerals to your broth.
Remove remaining bones from the broth with a slotted spoon and strain the rest through a strainer to remove any bone fragments.