Bone Broth Health Benefits, Real Deal or Great Over Priced Scam?
What are bone broth’s health benefits? The claim of Bone Broth health benefits popularity has been steadily growing over the years. What is the deal? A cup of bone broth at local eateries commands high prices. Is it worth it?
Is it a scam? I have tried bone broth at a local spot called Brondo Broth, 496 Hudson Street The West Village, New York City. Just steps away from the Christopher Stree PATH Train station.
As a practicing Living Simple Minimalist, I have been looking into simple meals that pack nutritional value to be a staple in my routine to simplify my life. Bone Broth health benefits may fit the bill.
It can be a quick nutritious meal I can consume daily without wasting time thinking of what to have for lunch every day or dinner. This will save time and limit decision fatigue.
Are our concepts of why we eat meals all wrong? There was a time we consumed meals mainly because of their nutritional value, a necessity.
Bone Broth was a meal served at restaurants hundreds of years ago because it packed high nutritional value in a small package.
The word restaurant is a variation of the word Restore. These were places where travelers visited to consume warm hearty nutrition soups and took much-needed rest to restore themselves after a long day of travel.
Sometimes we get derailed by false social constructs and lose focus. There was a time that Aluminum was more precious than gold.
The elites in those times would be offended if the dining table was set with solid gold dining utensils instead of Aluminum ones.
There was also a time Lobster was considered the food of the poor. Believe it or not, Lobsters were once routinely fed to poor people and prisoners.
Groups rioted because of it and negotiated being served Lobster no more than 2 or 3 times a week as a remedy. Just imagine being fed fresh lobster 5 times a week as a punishment. Oh! The inhumanity of it all. LOL
Is the popularity of Bone Broth a continuation of a false social construct and bone broth health benefits?
Are we missing the value of why we eat as we consume food for fun, entertainment, and to relieve boredom?
Well, let’s take a look at Bone Broth’s health benefits. Is it a dressed-up, glorified, overpriced soup stock or a superfood with magical nutritional value?
What is Bone Broth?
Bone Broth is a fancy stock made with bones that usually contain small amounts of meat on them. You can make it with any animal bones you choose, beef, chicken, turkey, whatever.
The bones are typically roasted beforehand to increase flavor and then slowly simmered in liquid for long periods of time.
It is common for broths to be left to simmer for 8 and as long as 24 hours. Longer cooking times are used to produce more gelatin from collagen-rich joints and to release a few trace minerals from the bones to increase the taste and nutritional value.
The end result should be a smooth, nutrient-filled bowl of tasty loveliness. If you are thinking Bone Broth is simple and inexpensive to make you would be correct but it can be time-consuming to make.
I believe Bone Broth’s health benefits alone make it worthwhile.
Usually, store-bought Bone Broths are fake garbage. Most of those companies use lab-produced meat flavors in bouillon cubes, powdered soup, and sauce mixes.
Yuk! Worst, companies are using monosodium glutamate (MSG), to falsely enhance the meat flavor.
As usual with any processed food, most canned or boxed Bone Broth contains added sodium, sugar, artificial flavorings, colorings, and the lowest quality ingredients possible.
Stick with homemade or quality restaurant Bone Broths as they are usually made with pride and the highest quality ingredients.
Restaurants usually produce Bone Broth with the most flavorful and nutrient richness. These are the qualities that make bone broth legendary. You can easily reach or exceed that quality when you prepare Bone Broth at home.
Bone Broth Health Benefits
Bone Broth is alleged to have magical powers that support the gut, skin, youthful appearance, better sleep, immune system, and building of strong bones.
That is a very powerful proposition for a glorified stock.
This leads us to Chicken Soup. It’s prescribed by doctors, mothers, and grandmothers alike.
Have you ever wondered why? Or not because you were being rewarded with a delicious bowl of chicken soup?
Chicken SoupThis study documents the healing powers of chicken soup. It can help reduce the inflammation caused by upper respiratory tract infections suffered from colds and flu.
I have met people who swear by Bone Broth’s health benefits. Bone Broth health benefits mainly come from the bone marrow, it is the densest source of fat-soluble rich vitamins.
The long cooking process breaks down the bones and marrow to release powerful nutritional properties.
Bone broths contain minerals in forms that your body easily recognizes and can easily absorb such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, sulfur, and many others.
They contain chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine, protein, good fats, collagen, and gelatin. One of the most valuable nutritional components of Bone Broth is gelatin which supports the cushion between bones to prevent painful bone-on-bone contact.
The gelatin acts as a lubricant and also provides us with the building blocks needed to build and maintain strong bones.
The fact that Bone Broth is a natural source of collagen means Bone Broth helps relieve aging joints and supports healthy bone development and mineral density.
How To Make Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 1 – 1.5 pounds of chicken, beef, lamb, or fish bones
- 1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2-3 carrots, chopped
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 ½ teaspoon unrefined sea salt, or more to taste
- Tablespoon vinegar for chicken bones, 1 tablespoon + 1.5 teaspoons for fish, 2 for beef
- enough water to cover the bones
- ½ teaspoon peppercorns, optional
- 2 chicken feet, optional
Instructions
- Place one pound of chicken bones in a slow cooker with veggies, salt, and peppercorns.
- Pour in enough filtered water to cover the chicken.
- Add 1 ½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- Turn slow cooker on low and cook for the recommended amount of time:
- Chicken bones: 8-24 hours
- Beef bones: 8-72 hours
- Fishbones: 6-24 hours
- When desired, strain the broth and discard the bones, vegetables, and peppercorns. Pour broth into jars and store in the fridge.
If you would like to freeze your broth, see my note at the end for how to freeze in jars.
Recipe source mommypotamus.com
How To Use Bone Broth
- Freeze it in ice cube trays
- Cook Ramen Noodles in it (a must-try if you haven’t already)
- Drink it plain with a touch of your favorite seasonings.
- Use it to Braised & Roast Meats
- Use its as a base for Soups & Stews
- Braising Vegetables
- Ramen Noodles
With the growth of the Paleo Diet, Bone Broth is gaining popularity for being a rich, tasty healthy meal with storied health benefits. There are many creative ways people use to incorporate it into their diets. Be creative.
Price Scam?
I believe somewhere along the lines many people lost their way. We began to live to eat instead of eating to live. I am one of those people. Sometimes I think about what I am going to eat for a large portion of the day. I cover it up by calling myself a foodie. LOL.
Bone Broth is a throwback from ancient times. It’s what we needed. Not necessarily what we wanted. Bone Broth health benefits provide us with protein, chondroitin sulfate and glucosamine, good fats, collagen, gelatin, and other nutrients we needed.
This mix is no accident. Far beyond supporting our health. This mix goes a long way to support our bones, joints, skin, and hair. This better enabled us to work harder, hunt longer, gather, and become the planet’s apex predator.
Is Bone Broth overpriced? Possibly. I fear the more popular it gets the higher the price of the ingredients will rise. Remember Lobsters? Look at the prices now.
If you think about it bones are usually discarded as scrap. I often see large dinosaur-like bones for sale cheaply at the pet store. Will be fighting Fluffy for these bones as bone prices rise? I hope not. LOL
Is Bone Broth easy to prepare? Not as easy as most would have you believe. Sourcing the best ingredients and cooking can be time-intensive. The slow cooker is the way to go.
Is Bone Broth health benefits a SCAM? I don’t believe so, but tell me what you think in the comment below.
[Shop For The Highest Quality Bone Broth]
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I don’t think bone broth per se is a scam. It depends where you get it from. Homemade is definitely the best if you want pure, unadulterated broth. I make my own chicken stock from time to time such as this https://souperdiaries.com/chinese-chicken-stock-recipe/. I use it in soups and stir-fries and it definitely makes the dish tastier.
I’m a big fan of bone broth. At my house we don’t call it bone broth, we call it stock. It’s the foundation of every soup and stew I make.
It’s a nutrition power house, I make it out of what we can’t eat anyway, and it has a mouth-feel that is inimitable. Accept no substitutes.
Seriously.
My favorite use for bone broth is chicken soup. I generally spatchcock all the chickens I cook and save the backs in the freezer. Leftover chicken bones go in the same bag. When I have enough it’s chicken soup time – starting with an overnight simmer of chicken backs and bones in the crock pot.
What’s your favorite use for bone broth?
Thanks for you comment Elizabeth. I love spatchcock chicken on the grill. I usually make a chicken stock with chicken bones. Now that Bone Broth has become popular in the area I have been trying to make a thicker “Bone Broth”.
As I have been streamlining and simplifying my life, I thought I could use Bone Broth as a quick meal replacement. Something ready to go without having to think about it. Now I am hooked trying different recipes. I like having it around for all of the reasons you mentioned.
Never knew bone broth was this healthy, my grandmother was always offering me some every time I went over to her home, will definitely have to give it a try next time, thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your comment Deep. Your Grandmother is full of good wisdom. Now a days the packaging our processed food comes in has more nutritional value than what’s inside. LOL
When my grandmother would feed me she would talk about the food sticking to my ribs and food that fuels my ability to work all day. My Grandparents lived on a farm.