Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Making Vegetable Broth from Scraps

When I read that you could make vegetable broth from scraps this City Girl was psyched! There's nothing more green than making something out of stuff that would be otherwise just sitting in the compost heap. So for the past month I've been accumulating veggie scraps in the freezer. When one large plastic container didn't seem to be quite enough, I also filled a large sized freezer bag with scraps. Well washed of course. Things like onion ends, pea-vines nearing their end, the buds from garlic scapes, chard stems, carrot tops & peels, cauliflower leaves and stems, and kohlrabi greens. At least that's what I could identify as I threw them into the crock pot.
I did feel I didn't have enough onion parts so a plucked a few small Spanish onions from the garden, along with some parsley just because I had a ton, and threw those in. The rest couldn't be simpler. Fill with water, turn the crock pot on low and let it all steep for 12-24 hours. I threw it in last night and strained it tonight, about 24 hours later, through a cheese cloth. It was the most beautiful looking veggie broth I've ever seen!

I got about 18 cups of broth. Plenty to last me quite a while! And there is just nothing more satisfying than making something from scraps I would have just thrown into the compost. Now let's make some soup!
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4 comments:

  1. AnonymousJuly 16, 2009 at 1:30 AM

    That broth looks wonderful! How does it taste?

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  2. City GirlJuly 16, 2009 at 9:43 AM

    The taste is excellent!! I didn't add much in the way of herbs or salt (a bit of parsley and just a few shakes of the salt shaker) because I figure I'll do that when I make individual soups out of it. So right now, it just tastes like fresh veggie goodness!!

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  3. CandaceJuly 17, 2009 at 8:42 PM

    And NOW you can add your scraps to the compost heap! I've never thought about doing that. That's a good idea, though. I just have to convince my husband that we have room in our already crammed freezer for a bag of scraps! Hehe!

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  4. AnonymousAugust 2, 2009 at 5:46 PM

    I ran across your site by accident and I must tell you I love it! I've been throwing my vegetable peels, banana peels, coffee grounds back into my garden. I think from now on the garden can survive with the fruit peels and the coffee grounds. I'm going to start useing the vegetable peels to make the vegetable broth. What an excellect tip.

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