Gobs of my recipes call for vegetable broth. Even, say, soup that could have chicken in it. The main reason is obvious: most of what I make starts out vegetarian, the meat added later to only a portion for my resident carnivore.

So, a few years ago, I started saving my veggie and herb scraps and freezing them in a gallon freezer bag. When the bag is packed to the brim, I brew up a big old pot of vegetable broth concentrate. Then I freeze it in measured portions and take it out as I need it, adding water and sometimes salt and, voila: veggie broth!

What is vegetable broth made of?

My homemade vegetable broth recipe always contains the following foundation vegetables:

• Carrots
• Celery
• Onion

Other vegetables that work well in vegetable broth:

• Shallots
• Mushrooms
• Parsnips
• Turnips
• Rutabagas
• Leeks
• Scallions
• Parsley leaves & stems
• Sage
• Thyme
• Rosemary

In addition, my vegetable broth contains:

• Water
• Salt
• Bay leaves
• Peppercorns

To get a gallon-bag full, I just throw my scraps in a designated bag and once it’s full, I make some broth! I peel an onion – the peel goes in the bag (after washing). I chop off the ends of a bunch of celery – into the bag. A couple of carrots languish in the bottom of the produce drawer. I stick them in the bag before they go bad. You get the drift.

Not only do I save a ton of money by making my own vegetable broth from my discards, it adds such a wonderful depth of flavor to dishes that I never quite get from store-bought broth. And I love being able to control the amount of salt that goes into a final recipe.

(more…)

The post How to Make Vegetable Broth from Scraps appeared first on Kitchen Treaty.