This home made organic vegetable stock is super easy to make, tastes great and has none of the nasty additives generally found in store bought stock!
Ingredients:
- 12 cups of cold filtered water
- 6 cups of assorted organic vegetables and herbs
- A sprinkle of organic peppercorns
Suitable vegetables for stock making include carrots and parsnips (including the tops), onions and garlic (including the skins), spring onions, celery and leeks (including the tops), tomatoes and mushrooms (including the stems).
Herbs you could use for stock making include parsley, basil, oregano, fennel, rosemary, thyme, sage and bay leaves.
You don't need to have all of the ingredients listed above! Just use whatever combination of these vegetables and herbs that you have available.
In fact, my favourite variation of this recipe is to use only organic vegetable scraps to make the stock. I add vegetable scraps such as onion and garlic skins, carrot peelings, the tops of celery and leeks etc to a container in the freezer and once I have saved up enough scraps, I pull them all out to make stock. This a great way to make use of the entire vegetable, ensuring nothing goes to waste!
You can also make a larger batch of this stock depending on the amount of vegetables you have available - for every one cup of vegetables, add two cups of water and adjust cooking time accordingly.
Vegetables that you should not use for making stock include potatoes, kumara, pumpkin, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, pak choi, kohl rabi, kale, mizuna and watercress, as these vegetables can make your stock cloudy and/or bitter tasting.
Method:
Wash your vegetables and herbs well, ensuring any dirt is removed. You don't need to remove the skin, peel, 'top and tail' or otherwise prep the vegetables aside from washing and chopping them.
Chop the vegetables and herbs roughly, then place them into a stock pot or large saucepan and add the filtered water. Bring your stock to a simmer over a low heat, and continue to simmer gently for approximately one hour, or until reduced by half.
Do not allow the stock to boil - you just want the occasional bubble breaking on the surface, rather than constant bubbling. Low and slow is the go!
Once the stock has reduced sufficiently, strain it through a sieve, and allow the stock to cool to room temperature. The vegetables or vegetable scraps used to make your stock can be composted.
When your stock has cooled to room temperature, transfer it into storage containers and place in the fridge or freezer. Stock will last for up to a week in the fridge or for several months in the freezer.
I recommend freezing your stock in 1 or 2 cup portion sizes, it's just as convenient as reaching for the store bought stock cubes, I promise! Plus it tastes way better and is so much better for you!