If ever there was a universal tonic for healing and rejuvenation, it is mineral broth. It is the very foundation of a cleansing, building, or balancing diet. Cook soup, grain, or legume dishes using this delicious and therapeutic broth.
Healing Mineral Broth
Serves: 2 quarts
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds of onions with skins, quartered
- 4 celery stalks with leaves, chopped
- 2 carrots, scrubbed and chopped
- 2 parsnips, scrubbed and chopped
- 1/2 pound fresh shiitake mushrooms
- 1 large red beet, peeled and chopped
- 2 1/2 pounds winter squash or yams, chopped into 2-inch pieces
- 1 small celery root, rutabaga, or turnip, chopped
- 1 2-inch piece dried kombu
- 1/4 cup dried wakame
- 1 pound fresh greens (spinach, kale, collards, chard), washed, patted dry, and chopped
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup flax seeds
Instructions
- Heat a heavy-bottomed stock pot over medium heat and add the onions and celery. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons 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 beets, squash, celery root, kombu, and wakame. Cover with filtered water to a depth of 2 inches above the vegetables and bring to a soft boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 4 to 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.
Source: Flavors of Health Cookbook by Dr. Ed Bauman and Chef Lizette Marx