Description
A great way to use up veggie scraps and trim like tomato ends, squash skins, onion tops, stems, etc. You can also use bones.
Ingredients
Onion scraps. Onion tops, white bottoms of green onions. Onion is the one critical scrap to have for making a good broth. Others advise also including carrot and celery scraps, but I’ve never found them essential.
All other veggie scraps. Peels, skins, cores, tough stems, cobs. There’s some debate on whether to add potentially overpowering cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts. I’ve added small amounts in the past and never found them to add too much intense flavor. DO NOT INCLUDE: Anything moldy or rotten, or green potato peels or potato sprouts, which contain a toxin.
Bones. If you’re not making a vegetarian broth, add chicken bones and the like.
Instructions
- Designate a one-gallon freezer bag as your “gross bag” (no offense taken if you don’t want to use my husband’s appealing moniker).
- Keep the bag in the freezer and add scraps to it as you generate them during meal prep. We find it takes a month or two to build up a full freezer bag. Once the bag is full (or, whenever you’re getting ready to make soup), pour the contents of the bag into a pot and fill it with water.
- Bring the water to a boil, and then let it simmer until the veggies look “spent.” For a richer broth, consider adding even more veggies (I know we sometimes find ourselves with two “gross bags” ready for use). Your house will smell cozy!
- After several hours, or after you’ve determined you’ve gotten all you can out of the veggies, strain the mixture into a bowl. Enjoy the broth and make sure to compost the remains of the veggies.