Scrappy Vegetable Broth
If you’re looking to reduce food waste like I am, taking your kitchen scraps and turning them into liquid gold is a game changer. Homemade broth is not only a great way to prevent waste, it adds a rich, homemade flavor to your dishes. I’m definitely not reinventing the wheel here, but this is new to me and I’m never going back to store bought!
I’ve been saving my vegetable scraps for a few weeks. Whatever is left over from cooking, or just about ready to head to the trash is added to a mesh bag that I store in the freezer. You can add just about anything, but you may want to avoid cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc) as it can make the broth bitter. Potatoes will make the broth cloudy so it’s best to avoid those as well.
In this batch I used: Multi-color peppers, garlic, onions and their skins, tomatoes, celery, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, lots of herbs and mushrooms. Even if you don’t like mushrooms, please add them. They add such great flavor!
The general rule is 3 cups of water for every 1 pound of vegetables. I stuffed my pot up to about 3/4 full and and then cover with water. Simmer on medium and use a potato masher to release more of the vegetables flavor. Pro-tip: for a richer flavor roast your scraps first. 400 degrees for about 20 minutes. Make sure the scraps don’t burn as they’ll make your broth taste bitter.
The longer you simmer the broth the richer and deeper the flavor will be. I simmered my batch low and slow for about 2 hours.
Once you are done give the veggies another good mash and strain. I went a step further and put the scraps into a nut milk bag and squeezed out the last bits of goodness. Unless your hands are made of Teflon make sure the vegetables are cool or you’ll burn your hands. Trust me.
Depending on how much you have you can freeze, water bath can (that’s what I did) or store in the fridge in a glass jar for up to a week.
Use your broth as you would in recipes that call for vegetable broth. I made roasted red pepper soup and this broth really enhanced the flavor. My favorite part about this broth is there’s NO SALT!
Happy Broth making!
