Nutrient Dense Vegetarian Broths Slow Cooked in a Clay Pot

Broth is a traditional and nourishing food. Not only does it hydrate, it provides essential nutrients such as vitamins and minerals extracted from the material with which it is cooked.

Bones have been used for thousands of years to make broth: it is a great way to gain nutrition from something that can’t be eaten, and reduces waste. People used to use every part of the animal when killing them for food: organs, skin, muscle, fat and bones. These days we are often more wasteful with our use of animals for food. And then there are those that protest using animals in this way at all, either for moral or health reasons.

For those people, broth can still be a very healthy addition to the diet. Vegetable broth can also be a way to reduce waste and extract valuable nutrients from what would otherwise be trash: ends and scraps of vegetables. Vegetable broth also makes a great, nutritious soup base for soups, stews and stir-fries, not to mention for cooking rice and other grains. Why buy bullion or broth at the store when you can make your own nutritious broth at home for free with scraps you were going to throw away?

Make Your Own Nutrient Dense Mushroom Broth:

•  5 Shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 1 large portabello mushroom, sliced
• 6 button mushrooms, sliced
• 10 cups of water

Directions:

•  Add all ingredients into Vitaclay pot
• Seal and cover, setting on “soup” for the maximum time.
• Cook for 1-2 hours.
• Jar and add to recipes, stir-fries or as a base for soups.

This broth is a great base for Asian soups, such as the seaweed tofu miso soup in our cookbook. The flavor and anti-oxidants shine through in many dishes and give a richness of flavor not found elsewhere.

Nutritious Vegetable Broth From Veggie Scraps

• Carrots, onions, garlic, celery, all chopped (use all bits, even scraps). Store veggie scraps from meals in the freezer.
• Once you have 1-2 cups of scraps (or chopped veggies), add them to the clay pot with 10 cups of water. Cover and seal, cooking on soup for 2-4 hours.
• Fill jars and refrigerate
• Use in any savory recipe that calls for water, as a base for soups, or heat up and sip with a bit of sea salt.

Tip:

Adding eggshells to any broth is a great way to boost calcium!