Sipping broth or enjoying soup during our hibernation months is so soothing. Winter is hard on our skin. The cold winds and temperatures take their toll. Layer in our time spent indoors exposed to constant heating, which dries the skin out, causing tightness, itchiness and irritation. There something so comforting about sipping warm drinks out of a mug.
Enter bone broth, a relatively inexpensive, simple, and low-calorie way to add digestible nutrients to your diet. It is an elixir for glowing skin, packed with protein, good fats, collagen, and keratin, all of which play a major role in giving you smooth, clear skin.
While there are no studies that specifically point to bone broth as the fountain of youth, and just like consuming collagen as a supplement, we can’t say that it will go directly to producing healthy skin, it is hard to argue with history. Broths hark back to ancient times. Plus, we understand that there are health and skin benefits as a result of the long simmer.
It’s pretty simple: Bone broth is an aromatic broth simmered with beef, poultry, or fish bones. What sets it apart from stock is the amount of time it’s simmering (often 24-36 hours). The longer the liquid is simmering, the more nutrients and minerals leach from the bones. As the broth is simmering away, glycine, a protein, is extracted. Glycine is incredibly useful in detoxification. This amino acid assists the liver in flushing out toxins and is necessary for the synthesis of glutathione – an important antioxidant for skin health.
The connective tissues and bones also contain collagen. When collagen is cooked, it turns into gelatin, which provides the body with amino acids, the building blocks of proteins.
If you want to make your own bone broth, you need to find a good source of bones. A simple option is to use what’s already available in your kitchen —like the carcass of a rotisserie chicken you picked up at the grocery for dinner. For the best quality organic bones, look for sources of free-range, organic poultry and grass-fed beef, most often available at specialty grocery stores, butcher shops, and farmers’ markets.
You can increase the collagen content in your bone broth by choosing cuts with lots of cartilage and connective tissue, including whole chicken carcasses and beef knucklebones. This will give your bone broth a thick, gelatinous appearance when it cools. Apple cider vinegar helps to extract more minerals from the bone.
Good For: Anti-Aging
Recipe:
This recipe is for chicken or beef bone broth. However, you can substitute any type of bone, including fish bones.
- 1 whole chicken carcass or 3-4 lbs of beef bones
- A generous pinch of sea salt
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp sea salt
- Optional: aromatic vegetables and herbs, such as carrots, celery, kale, parsley, and/or cilantro
- Optional: additional seasonings, such as turmeric or chili flakes
Stove Top or Slow Cooker Method
- Place bones in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add water until bones are completely covered. (because the broth will be simmering for 24-36 hours, please use a safe vessel for simmering as you can also leach elements from the pot.)
- Add apple cider vinegar (to help leach minerals from the bones) and salt.
- Bring to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer slowly for 24-36 hours.
- Add aromatic vegetables, herbs, and seasonings for the last 6-8 hours of cooking time.
- Turn off heat, allow the broth to cool slightly, and strain out bones and other ingredients.
The broth can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 days or be frozen for future use.
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