If you talk to home cooks, you should always have chicken stock in your freezer. If you talk to Jewish mothers, there should always be a jar of homemade chicken soup in your refrigerator. But if you talk to health experts, the one liquid you really need to have on hand his bone broth. Not only can it be used as liquid in recipes that call for any liquid or take the place of soup on any day for any reason, it’s health benefits far exceed these more traditional alternatives.

“Our ancestors realized its importance for good health, and now so do I,” says Sharon Brown, owner of Bonafide Provisions, which sells and makes a large variety of bone broths.

As Brown recalls, she never intended bone broth to be her life’s work. “Around 15 years ago, my then 6-year-old son Blake had all these chronic illnesses. The doctors prescribed so many antibiotics, but nothing worked, so my husband and I knew we had to do something different,” she recalls. “We went to our local library and started reading everything about healing through food, and how societies through hundreds of years had used bone broth. So then I made bone broth for Blake from scratch and after a year everything was healed.”

Thanks to her personal success, Brown decided to help other families with what she had learned. “Eventually, I went back to school to get a degree in nutrition, opened up a practice, and with my husband, who’s a chef, we started making bone broth for my clients. Eventually, it became a national business,” she says. “It’s easy enough to make at home – you just need animal bones and tissue, water and maybe a little apple cider vinegar -- but you need the time and patience to let it simmer for 18 to 24 hours.”

As Brown points out, what’s in those animal bones can pretty much cure whatever ails you, thanks to its combination of amino acids such as glutamine, proline and glycine. “Glutamine and glycine fully support your immune system, whether it’s healing a bad cold or a problem with your gut,” she says. Meanwhile, proline supports heart health, helps build muscles and, above all, strengthens our connective tissue. “Drinking bone broth is like drinking liquid collagen, which leads directly to better skin elasticity and hydration,” she notes.

If all this doesn’t convince you to try bone broth, consider this: “It is generally considered a weight loss tool because it is filling without being high in calories and can easily be incorporated into a weight management plan. Additionally, all those amino acids have been proven to modulate blood sugar, which can reduce sugar cravings.”

In short, forget today’s fads, says Brown, “I call bone broth a 1000-year-old super-trend!”

ADD RECIPE (see separate document)

INGREDIENTS

·      3-4 lbs cherry tomatoes

·      1 large onion, chopped into large chunks

·      4 fresh garlic cloves, peeled and left whole

·      3 tbsp avocado oil

·      2 cups chicken bone broth

·      Celtic sea salt

·      Ground black pepper

·      Olive oil for drizzling

·      Fresh basil, thyme, or oregano for garnish

DIRECTIONS

1.    Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.    Wash tomatoes and dry with paper towel, then place on parchment lined baking sheet. Add onion and whole garlic cloves to pan, then drizzle with avocado oil, sea salt, and fresh ground pepper.

3.    Move pan around to make sure all tomatoes, onion, and garlic is coated with oil. Place in oven to roast for 45 minutes.

4.    While tomatoes are roasting, place 2 cups of bone broth on the stove and heat, then set aside.

5.    Once tomatoes are done, carefully pick up the sides of the parchment paper and dump into a high-powered blender, making sure every last bit of juices is added.

6.    Blend on low and slowly start to add in the bone broth until you’ve reached the desired consistency.

7.    Once done, pour soup into stainless steel pan over medium heat, and make sure it’s heated to your liking. Add more Celtic sea salt and fresh ground pepper as needed.

8.    Pour into bowl and drizzle olive oil over top, add garnishes as desired.

Recipe Courtesy of Bonafide Provisions