Brewed to the Bone

It’s a chilly winter afternoon and I’m huddled in the kitchen with my good friend, Kelli Antista.

An assistant bank manager in Greeley, Kelli is one of the most thrifty people I know. She’s inclined to put every scrap, spare container and old plastic bag to good use. She even saves leftover bones from dinner.

Kelli has a batch of bones—a rotisserie chicken carcass—gently bubbling in the Crock-Pot right now. She’s cooked up more than 50 gallons of this chicken bone broth over the past year.

“It’s important to cook on low because it keeps the broth clear, rather than getting cloudy,” she tells me, explaining this will be a 24-hour process. While bone broth can be made from any animal bones and connective tissues, Kelli prefers the flavor of a chicken-based stock.

With patience, the slow simmer should result in a broth rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals, which have been attributed to improved joint and gut health as well as skin elasticity.

A health trend with ancient roots

Turning to bone broth for its health benefits is something Kelli has in common with the late Kobe Bryant as well as celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Salma Hayek and Gwyneth Paltrow.

“I’ve been doing the bone broth for a while now,” the basketball legend told ESPN in 2015. “It’s great—energy, inflammation. It’s great.”

Both Kelli and Kobe integrated bone broth into their diets during a period of recovery: Kobe from a sprained ankle and Kelli from foot surgery. That’s in part because of bone broth’s collagen content. As the body’s most abundant protein, collagen supports bone, joint and skin health, says Bobbie Covert, a nutritional health coach at Natural Grocers in Loveland who offers free nutrition classes and coaching.

“It gives our bones a little bit of flexibility,” she says, “so we’re not constantly breaking a bone.”

As a master nutrition therapist trained at the Nutrition Therapy Institute in Arvada, Covert believes bone broth can make a healthy addition to daily diets. This is especially true for people with digestive issues, she says, since the nutrients extracted from bones include the amino acid glutamine, an important component for gut health. The stock also provides a range of essential minerals, including calcium, magnesium and potassium.

While its nutrient density has made bone broth a trending health food in recent years, Covert says it has long been a part of balanced diets. Kelli’s practice of saving bones, Covert explains, is exactly what our resource-conscious ancestors did.

“Even as recently as 50-100 years ago, we were getting a lot more nutrition from the bone portion of animals,” she says.

In modern times, a standard broth often focuses on just the muscle meat of an animal, Covert says. While a meat-based stock offers convenience, taking as little as an hour to cook, the patient process of brewing bone broth promises a higher concentration of nutrients, like collagen and essential amino acids.

How to make bone broth at home

There are many techniques to prepare bone broth in your kitchen. During summer and fall, Kelli likes to make hers by adding seasonal vegetables, including squash, jalapeños and bell pepper. She opts for a cooking period of 24 hours to extract the maximum amount of collagen and nutrients from her chicken bones.

Covert prefers a shorter cooking period of 10-12 hours for her beef bone broth, adding a bit of apple cider vinegar to help extract the nutrients. She also adds carrots, celery and other ingredients for an enhanced flavor and extra boost of vitamins.

“You can add any herbs that you like. I would say salt is mandatory in my household,” Covert says, adding that a bit of lemon juice can also brighten the flavor.

For those without 10-24 hours to wait, Covert says bone broth can also be purchased at the supermarket. A simple, chicken-based bone broth from the store provides about nine grams of protein per cup, and a beef broth contains about 10 grams.

From there, how to consume bone broth is up to the imagination. On a cold day, Covert likes to sip it plain as a more hearty and filling alternative to tea that is reminiscent of chicken soup. It also provides an easy protein boost for soups, hot chocolate or even a bloody mary.

Kelli Antista’s Chicken Bone Broth

Produces 2.5 quarts

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass (from a rotisserie chicken or whatever bones you have)

2 carrots

2 celery sticks

1 onion

1 whole head of garlic

1 bay leaf

1-2 inches fresh, chopped ginger

Salt and pepper (to taste)

Turmeric (to taste)

10 cups water

Directions

Chop vegetables. Dump ingredients in a Crock-Pot and cook on low for 24 hours. Top off with two cups of water at the end if necessary. Strain into a pot or jar and store in the fridge or freeze for later.

Bobbie Covert’s Beef Bone Broth

(adapted from nom nom paleo)

Produces 4 quarts

Ingredients

2 carrots

2 celery stalks

1 medium onion

7 garlic cloves

3 1/2 pounds beef bones

2 bay leaves

Kosher salt (to taste)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (optional)

Water (enough to cover ingredients)

Directions

Chop vegetables. Dump first 4 ingredients in a Crock-Pot, followed by beef bones. Add bay leaves and salt. Drizzle with vinegar. Cover ingredients with water. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Strain into a pot or jar and store in the fridge or freeze for later.

Bone Broth Hot Chocolate

from NOCO Style’s Allyson Porteous

Ingredients

1 part bone broth

2 parts oat milk

2 tablespoons per cup 100-percent cocoa powder (or more to taste)

Date sweetener or 100-percent pure Grade A organic maple syrup (to taste)

Drizzle of vanilla extract

Marshmallow root marshmallows

Directions

Combine all ingredients except marshmallows and froth. Follow marshmallow recipe to garnish.

Marshmallow Ingredients

4 tablespoons marshmallow root herb

2 cups room temperature water

3 tablespoons beef (or regular) gelatin

½-1 cup maple syrup (sweeten to taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dusting of date powdered sugar

Marshmallow Directions

Steep marshmallow root herb in water overnight on the counter. The next day, strain and set aside 1 cup of the liquid. Add ½ cup of the liquid to a bowl with gelatin. Whisk slightly and set aside to bloom.

Pour the other ½ cup of liquid into a small saucepan with the maple syrup. Slowly bring the mixture to a boil while whisking, then keep whisking while boiling for 8 minutes (electric hand mixer on low is easiest).

Dust a glass baking dish with date powdered sugar until completely coated and set aside. Turn the mixer to medium speed and slowly pour in the bloomed mixture, then slowly pour in the saucepan mixture. Turn the mixer on high for 10 minutes or until it forms soft peaks resembling marshmallow fluff. Incorporate vanilla extract the last minute of mixing.

Quickly pour the mixture into the dish before it solidifies. Dust the top with date powdered sugar. Let cool for at least 2 hours in the fridge before cutting. Add to hot chocolate and enjoy.