Re: the bones of bone broth

March 28, 2002

>When I make bone broth I usually use chicken RMBs (necks, backs, breast

>cavities, etc). I have a lot of backs and used mainly backs in my last

>batch. Backs are VERY fatty, and when I feed them to my dogs (ground) I

>remove most of the fat. It occurred to me that the skin on the backs is part

>of the reason my broth has a lot of fat in it. Does anyone here remove the

>skin from chicken before making your bone broth? Or *would* you, if you used

>mainly backs? Or does the skin provide some of the important nutrients in

>the broth? I'm more interested in the marrow, and was thinking of removing

>the skin next time. Any opinions on this?

I always use the skin; it has a lot of flavor. I also chill the stock

before using it, so the fattiness of the skins is not really an issue

for me.

Also consider using some feet if you find them. I had a broth with

chicken feet and it was incredibly stiff.

>One more question, after a few days of simmering, the chicken bones in my

>broth are so soft I can crush them with my fingers. As I was tossing out the

>bones/fat after removing the broth yesterday, I was thinking that I'm

>throwing out something that might be nutritious. Does anyone do anything

>with the bones you remove from your bone broth? Is there nutrition to be had

>from those soft bones? Or are the nutrients too altered by heat to provide

>any worthwhile nutrition? Is calcium altered by heat? Would these bones be

>hydrophilic like the broth is? I figured if I removed the fat, I could

>easily grind the bones into a mush...and...well eat them if they are

>healthy.

I can't answer any of the tech questions, but when I'm straining the

broth and then picking through the strainings to find meat (which

generally gets returned to the soup), I quite frequently nibble on

soft little bones. I've never served them up though. I would think

that they would work well as part of a meatloaf if suitably ground up.

>

>Suze Fisher

>Web Design & Development

>mailto:s.fisher22@...

>

March 28, 2002

My mother used to pressure-cook bones (esp. fish bones) and feed them to

the cat. The high heat may not be good for the contents, but the calcium is

good for the cat. Or you.

Soaking the bones in vinegar will also soften them. Chicken bones are very

splintery when cooked and I've heard can damage the intestine: I don't know

how much then need to be softened to be harmless.

-- Heidi