Bone Broth: from pressure cooker to freeze-dryer

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Bone Broth: from pressure cooker to freeze-dryer
Preserving Bone Broth from organic chickens


The journey of the homestead, whatever that looks like to you is all about making choices and being more conscious about whatever is important to you. 

Making bone broth from scratch, rather than just throwing out the chicken bones, is one such step that many people are making. 

Why Bone Broth?

Bone broth is rich in nutrients, including: 
  • Protein
  • Collagen
  • Iron
  • Calcium
  • Magnesium 
Imagine how happy your body, “your walking planet” and your microbiome is after digesting bone broth, especially if it is from organic chickens and is homemade with a touch of love. 

How To Make Bone Broth

  1. Roast your organic chicken (or chicken pieces and save/freeze the bones until you have enough to fill your Instant Pot)
  2. Push as many bones as possible into the Instant Pot, getting as many in as possible 
  3. Add an onion and a splash of apple cider vinegar to help release all the goodness 
  4. Cover the bones (just covering) with water 
  5. Pressure cook for 3 hours 
  6. Slow release the pressure 
  7. Strain out the broth and put in jars or prepare for freeze-drying 
  8. You can now add more water and repeat. The broth won’t be as thick and rich but it is still bone broth!

Preserving Your Bone Broth

Now that you have your bone broth (and probably too much to use in the upcoming week), you can preserve it to be used in the future as needed. 

To preserve your broth, you can: 
  • Freeze it 
  • Can it (follow directions for your pressure canner)
  • Freeze-dry it

Personally, I love it freeze-dried. You end up with a dry substance that can easily be added to recipes and/or reconstituted with some water.

There is some concern that freeze-drying may have a detrimental effect on the proteins in the broth but each method of preserving has its downfalls and convenience puts the freeze-drying on the top of my options. 

To Freeze-dry Bone Broth 

  1. Once your broth has cooled, pour it onto the freeze-dryer trays IN THE FREEZER. Trying to transport a tray of liquid is, well, messy. 
  2. Freeze the broth over night to 1) eliminate splashing liquid onto the floor and 2) to reduce processing time 
  3. Freeze-dry
  4. Store in Mylar bag or vacuum-sealed jar, with oxygen absorbers 
  5. Be sure to label the container with the date. Because your broth will have some fat molecules, it will not store as long as vegetables. Personally, I prefer to only store my bone broth for a year, but it is usually used up long before that. 
NOTE: Harvest Right has a referral program where you can get 50 free Mylar bags and oxygen absorbers and I would gladly share with you my tips for buying and using a freeze-dryer and help you get your free products. Just message me at msdebbiep@gmail.com

How I use my bone broth

  • Add hot water and drink as a beverage
  • Add water, vegetables, and meat, to make a soup
  • Add to the water for cooking rice, potatoes, or wheat berries (I have a wheat berry salad recipe here
And enjoy the goodness!
- Debbie

Also, see: How I store my freeze-dried food 

a simpler life