Most of the year, we cook meat that doesn’t have bones. So who can blame us for thinking that the turkey bones left over from our holiday dinner belong in the trash? But I’m about to tell you how those bones can give you what I like to call magical bone broth.
I say bone broth is magical because it has all kinds of good nutrients that normally we would pay a lot of money for individually. Take a look, here’s what it has
Collagen
Collagen keeps your hair, skin, and nails looking healthy and young, replacing the collagen that our body loses naturally as we age. By replacing the collagen we’re losing, we can help prevent wrinkles and who doesn’t want that? Collagen also helps with wound healing and can even help prevent stretch marks.
Gelatin
Like collagen, gelatin helps our skin, hair and nails (though to a lesser extent), but it also has the added benefit of aiding digestion. It binds to water and helps food move more easily through our digestive tract. Gelatin also has some amino acids that help build muscle.
Both collagen and gelatin can help strengthen joint tissues helping to reduce joint pain.
Minerals
Bone broth contains minerals needed for maintaining healthy bones and teeth including calcium, silicon, sulfur, magnesium, and phosphorous all in an easily digestible form. Adding bone broth to your diet can help prevent osteoporosis as well as tooth decay. Also, most people are deficient in magnesium which can help vitamin D absorption as well as insulin sensitivity, and bone broth contains a good amount of magnesium.
So, just how do you extract all this goodness from that turkey carcass? It’s so simple you’ll wonder why you weren’t doing it before.
Bone Broth Recipe
- Place turkey carcass in a large pot or slow cooker
- Cover with water
- Add a cap-full or two of apple cider vinegar
- Let simmer for a minimum of 2 hours and a maximum of 24 hours
- Strain out bones
For extra flavor, you can add vegetables like onions, celery, and carrots to the pot, but you don’t need to. When your bone broth is done, you can season with salt and pepper. You’ll know you made bone broth correctly if it turns gelatinous when refrigerated.
Using Bone Broth
- Making soups
- Making sauces
- Cooking grains
- Drinking all on it’s own
Photo by: Lauren Silverman
Pamela Bruesehoff
Latest posts by Pamela Bruesehoff (see all)
- 28 Days of Healthy Habits: Week 4 - February 24, 2015
- 6 Ways Fad Diets Can Harm You and How to Spot Them - February 23, 2015
- A Guide To The Mental Benefits Of Running - January 12, 2015
Leave a Reply