Homemade Vegetable Broth

I know what you are thinking.  Make my own broth?  Why?  Because it is DELICIOUS and easy and healthy. 

Vegetable Broth

Makes about 10 Cups of Broth

Core Ingredents for Broth

2-3 Tbs Olive Oil

1-2 Large Onions, chopped

1 lb Celery, Chopped

1 lb Carrots, washed but unpeeled, chopped

3 Whole Cloves Garlic

1 Bay Leaf

10 Whole Black Peppercorns

2 tsp Salt

1/4 Cup Low Sodium Tamari

1 Gallon Water

Optional Ingredents:

I also added, because I could

2 Parsnips, chopped

2-3 Tbs Tomato Paste (or one or two tomatoes)

A few Sprigs Rosemary (parsley is more traditional, use a lot!)

1 Head Broccoli (a strange but decent choice)

1 Sweet Potato (another odd choice, whatever)

Any fresh veggie scraps from other meals

Leeks

Mushrooms

Celery Root

Potatoes

Peppers

Turnips

Any Greens

Zucchini

Fennel

Heat a large stock pot with some olive oil in the bottom.  I chop my way through the vegetable list as I’m cooking–so once the onion is chopped, add it to the pot, then do the celery, the carrots, etc, adding each thing once it’s chopped up a bit.  When you’re out of stuff to add, pour in the water, turn up the heat and cover.  It should only take you about 20 minutes to chop everything and get it in the pot.  From then on out it’s easy street.

Cook for 1 hour, turning the heat down a bit once the whole thing starts boiling. 

I finish my broth by adding salt/tamari/soy sauce to taste and letting it simmer uncovered for another 20-30 minutes to concentrate the flavors.

Strain the veggies out into a large pot