Bone Broth - TCM’s magic elixir
In Chinese medicine a bone broth is considered as a sort of elixir for the body. There are countless things bone broth is thought to be good for:
Its believed to be a ‘blood builder’ (basically nourishing yourself) - ladies a week pre period works a treat.
An energy booster.
Great for any digestive issues (constipation/diarrhoea/IBS/IBD)
Or if you’re feeling weak/overtired for any reason
TCM suggests drinking cup a day (back to blood sugar levels, drinking bone broth for breakfast/ as that first hot drink of the day works really well to stave off any sugar cravings for the rest of the day).
If you’re pescatarian fish bone broths are considered equally as effective.
Beef bone broth from a naturopathic nutrition perspective also provides a good source of collagen which is great for a lot of things in the body - not just wrinkles.
Unfortunately, for the vegans vegetable soups aren’t considered quite as effective I’m afraid - but some good blood building foods are rooibos tea, nettle, beetroot, and as a whole meal, a slow cooked chickpea, spinach, nettle daal would be a great blood building vegan alternative!
Ideally you want to slow cook the bones with other veg and herbs for as long as possible - recipe below.
A note with Rooibos tea, it can actually lower blood pressure/make you tired so be careful drinking a lot of it - find what works for you!
Chicken Bone broth recipe
Around 15 min prep time.
Use a large organic free range chicken (worth spending the bit extra on getting organic/pastured/grass fed for this one trust me).
Roast it and enjoy all the meat as normal just make sure you keep the carcass and bones.
Chop/break up the bones (if they are too tough this stage can be skipped)
Chuck the bones into a pan/ slow cooker and add:
Fresh ginger (chop up a thumbnail don’t worry about skin)/ ginger powder
Fresh turmeric (chop up a thumbnail don’t worry about skin)/ turmeric powder
2 x bay leaves
A generous handful of fresh thyme (stalks and all) or dry powder
A generous handful of fresh parsley (stalks and all) or dry powder
Dried nettle powder - optional
2 x tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (‘with the mother’, shake the bottle first), if not other dark vinegar also works
2 x carrots. Chop up, don’t worry about skin
1 x medium white onion chopped
2/3 stalks of celery chopped
season generously (salt+pepper)
Fill pot 2/3 with water
Leave to cook on a low simmer for minimum 6 hours - the longer the better, a day would be great. Pork/beef versions require longer - min 12 hours. Fish bone broth only needs around an hour.
When it’s finished strain out the soup (you can throw all the other bits away).
There will be a layer of fat at the top which you spoon off (easier after it’s been in the fridge as the fat will solidify).
The whole texture when kept in the fridge will be gelatinous like - this isn’t fat don’t worry it will go back to liquid as soon as you heat it.
Freeze what you don’t use after a few days.
The broth can then be simply drunk as a hot drink or it can be used as a stock for cooking other things eg soups/broths or say to cook rice with.
