Veggie Broth

I have mentioned and it will come up again, my veggie broth. So what is it?

I started to make this when we had to cut back the amount of salt we were eating, after hubby's blood pressure shot up.  But I kept making it, because it has other benefits.

I can't give you a recipe for it, because it isn't a recipe. It is a way to use up some of the parts of the vegetables that you would normally throw away.

Here is the concept.

You need a container to keep in the freezer.
Every time you are preparing vegetables; any part that is still edible, but is not needed for the recipe (like the peels off of washed carrots), throw it in the container in the freezer.

When the container is full, or once a month. Dump the collection into a large stock pot. Cover with water and bring to a boil. Then let it simmer. I aim for an hour, but have let it go as long as three.

Strain the broth. You may have to strain it a couple of times and through a cheese cloth to get all the bits out.

Then I let it cool slightly and pack it in two to four cup size containers. Then freeze.

It's handy to have around. And saves you money as well. You can use it as a replacement for any broth or bouillon. You may have to add more fat and or salt to the recipe to get the right taste.

The taste of it can change, based on what you had in the stock pot. One year someone gave me a bunch of jalapenos. I froze them because there was no way we could have eaten the amount they gave me at once. A few batches of this broth had one or two of the peppers added to it. Gave it a nice zing.

The only drawback is people opening your freezer and seeing that container full of veggie bits. Some might think you are weird for keeping it around. After you explain what it is, it's not that weird.