Beef Broth without SUGAR

[MingoNW]

I have been shocked by how hard it is to find beef broth without sugar. I was amazed when I looked at all the ingredients in beef broth. It was one of those foods that I never would have though to look at the label for sugar or glutens. The whole 30 has been quite an education on label reading!

Not as surprising as having SUGAR in your SALT!!! tho http://forum.whole9life.com/topic/3673-can-i-just-say-wt/page__fromsearch__1

So at Whole Foods today they had Imagine Beef flavored broth, and it did not have sugar, but it did have safflower oil and yeast extract. Is yeast extract bad? Anyone?

Any other sources?

In the meantime, I'm just using veggie broth from trader joes, which is compliant. And it's fine in the recipes I've been using it for.

[missmary]

yeast extract is allowed, but I avoid it because I am sensitive to MSG.

I seem to repeat this constantly, but why not make your own? If you simmer marrow bones with water a bit of apple cider vinegar (on the stovetop or in a crockpot for 12-24 hours) you'll get broth infused with minerals and nutrients; tastier, and way better for you than the storebought stuff.

[MingoNW]

Well I never buy beef with bones, so there's that. i may look into that, tho.

[Emily]

Missmary, do you use soup bones? Do you buy beef bones with marrow specifically for this purpose? Or do you save bones from steaks and do this?

Bone broth is on my list to make, but for some reason I'm intimidated.

[missmary]

yeah, I don't buy beef with bones very often, but I do buy beef bones. Most butchers are happy to sell you some bones if you want them.

edit: to respond to Emily: my coop has bags of beef marrow bones in the freezer case. this is what I get, since it's rare for me to do a steak with a bone in it. For chicken stock, I just freeze the carcas and skin left from a roast chicken and use that (the stock is particularly good if there is some meat left on as well).

AND for encouragement, it's SO EASY! All you need is some patience, because it really does get better in the hours of simmering. Add some onions and a bunch of garlic to the pot (even with their skin on), and don't by shy about adding a bit of sea salt to taste if you are drinking it on it's own--to me that really makes a difference and brings out the flavor.

[jhmomi]

Missmary, do you use soup bones? Do you buy beef bones with marrow specifically for this purpose? Or do you save bones from steaks and do this?

Bone broth is on my list to make, but for some reason I'm intimidated.

I bought marrow bones for the beef broth I made a couple weeks ago. I bought mine at Whole Foods because I was there, but my Kroger and Publix have them too. I made about 4 quarts of broth with about $8 worth of bones. I am sure I could have made it for less if I tried, but I could never have bought 4 quarts of good compliant broth for the price I paid. I am a VERY lazy cook. All I did was put marrow bones plus ACV and water into a crockpot and simmered for the day. Remove bones, strain into another pot, then return liquid to crockpot. Let cool, place in fridge and skim off the fat the next day. Then I stored it in 2 cup containers for the freezer. Because bone broth is quite greasy, I washed my strainers and pots in my dishwasher. Total hands on time was under 1/2 hour.

P.S. I didn't add anything to flavor it, because for me it's easy enough to add salt or spices later to an individual serving. By keeping it salt free, I find it's more adaptable for me. I like curry paste and coconut aminos which both have a ton of salt, so I wouldn't want salt in my broth for a dish including those items.

[MingoNW]

Y'all are persuading me. i will check at Whole Foods next time I go for some bones. Are the spendy?

[jhmomi]

Y'all are persuading me. i will check at Whole Foods next time I go for some bones. Are the spendy?

I don't remember the exact price, but it was between 2 and 3 dollars per lb. But the bones at my WF that day looked much meatier than what I saw at my regular grocery store the previous week. They were nice large cross sections of bone so I decided to give it a shot to make the broth. I honestly think it's a hard thing to screw up. Anything you make at home with good bones is going to be better than what you buy in a can or carton.

[Daryl Mitchell]

So yeast extract is ok? I just ran down to the store and saw yeast and put it back. I finally found something that had various stocks of beef, veggies and veal. It said spices and is all natural, but said nothing of sugar. Worries me about what "spices" mean.

[jennrider]

I bought bones at WF. I think it was about $8 for 6 huge bones. Through them in the crockpot with water, onion, garlic, celery, carrots and parsly. We freeze celery tops and onion ends for just this purpose. Add salt and pepper and let it cook all day. We freeze it in mason jars. Some pint, some quart. It tastes so much better than what you buy. My kids were sick one week and I started to feel crappy. I drank some broth and felt better in less than an hour.