Back in 1968, I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Henry Biehler, whose book, Food is Your Best Medicine, had been a revelation to me. In it, he recommends an alkaline mineral broth for all his patients. The broth is very simple, boiled and simmered zucchini, parsley, celery, and green beans. This mix could be strained and taken as a clear broth by the cup 3 to 4 times per day, or it could be blended into a puree resembling split pea soup and used as a vegetable side dish.
A bit later, in 1970, I worked with Dr. Paavo Airola, author of Are You Confused, How to Get Well, How to Stay Slim, Young, and Healthy with Juice Fasting, and Rejuvenation Secrets from Around the World. Airola recommended a potassium broth for his patients, made from potato skins. Neither the Biehler nor Airola broths had much flavor or body.
When I began to lead fasting retreats in 1984, I built on my basic study of broth-ology to create the Bauman Broth. My basic formula is to fill a large pot with 1/3 root or starchy vegetables, 1/3 green vegetables, and 1/3 shiitake mushrooms, sea vegetables, herbs, and spices, then to add flax seeds at the end for a nice source of oil and texture. If you use yams or winter squash as a base, you will have a golden amber nectar that is rich, smooth, and delicious.
I suggest that the vegetables be gently simmered for 4 to 5 hours to gain a complete extraction of the minerals and phytonutrients present, such as carotenes and flavonoids, which are not harmed by moderate heat. Feel free to add clean onion skins, vegetables peels, and/or broccoli stalks to your stock.
This broth alkalinizes and rebalances mineral stores in the body, rejuvenating you on a cellular level. I am sure Drs. Biehler and Airola would approve.
-Dr. Ed Bauman, Flavors of Health
Photo from Jeanette’s Healthy Living
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds onions with skins, quartered
- 4 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
- 2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
- 2 parsnips, scrubbed and chopped
- ½ pound fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 1 large red beet, peeled and chopped
- 2 ½ pounds winter squash or yams, chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 1 small celery root, rutabaga, or turnip chopped
- 1 2-inch piece dried kombu
- ¼ cup dried wakame
- 1 pound fresh greens (spinach, kale, collards, and/or chard), washed, patted dry, and chopped
- ½ bunch fresh parsley
- ¼ cup flax seeds
Method
- Heat a heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat and add the onions and celery. Add 2 to 3 Tbs of water and cover the pan so the vegetables will release their own water content. This action is called sweating.
- After about 5 minutes or so, remove the lid and give the onions and celery a stir; they should be slightly softened. Stir in the carrots, parsnips, and shiitake mushrooms and cover the pan again to sweat the vegetables for another 5 minutes. The vegetables will continue to soften and release their juices.
- Add the beet, squash, celery root, kombu, and wakame. Cover with filtered water to a depth of 2 inches above the vegetables and bring up to a soft boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 4-6 hours.
- Add the fresh greens and parsley during the last hour of cooking.
- During the last 20 minutes of cooking, stir in the flax seeds.
- When stock is finished, strain through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth into a large bowl. Press the solids to extract as much liquid as possible.
- Place bowl of hot stock in an ice bath to cool. Store cooled stock in canning jars for up to 1 week in the refrigerator. If freezing stock, leave 2 inches of head room at the top of the canning jars.
Photo from Making Love in the Kitchen