Making Veggie Broth

I love soup. And sweaters, fluffy comforters, hot tea, red, frozen cheeks peeking out between a scarf and a hat. Oh, I do miss winter. Real winter that lasts until you are wishing it away.

But back to soup. Many years ago, I started making my own vegetable broth from food scraps and leftovers. It is seriously one of the most satisfying made-from-scratch activities that I know. You start with a pile of trash - onion skins, pepper cores, dried out scallions. You add a few things you have laying around, needing to be used up. Throw it all together with some water and a few hours later you have something beautiful.

I am stubbornly still making broth at this time of year, despite the fact that I live in West Texas and summer began back in March. Or was it February?

Last week, the container I keep in the freezer to store my scraps was full. I had collected onion and garlic skins, a few lemons whose zest had been used to make scones, some kale and chard stalks, sweet potato skins, a handful of carrot ends, red pepper cores. I was particularly curious about the lemons. Would they be too overpowering? I had never put them in broth before.

I rooted around in the fridge and the cabinets and found a leftover shallot, a handful of carrots, some dried out scallions, a bit of the core of a head of lettuce, some old sage. Some extra garlic is always a welcome culinary addition in my home. 

I remembered that my husband had recently bought a big jar of dried dill though we already had a pile of it. When I went to get the dill, I found thyme, bay leaves and coriander seeds. I love that I can throw bits and pieces in without worrying too much about the amounts, though I am a bit more careful with really strong flavors, like the dill I added this time. And salt. The final dish is always seasoned, so I never add more than a tablespoon of salt to my broth.

A few of the veggies needed to be cut into smaller pieces. Just a few big chunks would do.

Between the veggies from the freezer and the fresh things I had found, the crockpot was filled almost to the top. I was not sure if I had added too much, but when I poured in the water and everything rearranged itself, I was able to add at least ten cups.

I did not make it back to the crockpot until the evening, but the broth did not mind. A bit of extra simmering time can never hurt. I strained it first through a mesh strainer and into a very large bowl. It turned out to be quite a lot of broth.

I remembered this time to squeeze the last bits of extra goodness from the veggies before I threw them away. I hit a lemon when I pressed down though and thought again about whether it had been a good choice to include it. I moved it to the side of the strainer and pressed again.

I always think of my tiny little baby boys when I strain the broth the second time, this time laying a birdseye flat-fold diaper in the strainer. I wonder what these would be like to diaper with, for we have never used them for their intended purpose. They do a bit of everything else around here though and we even bought a designated set just for the kitchen.

The broth filled two quart-sized mason jars. Some of it will be used tomorrow in a coconut red lentil soup that I have been loving lately. I measured out the rest to put in the freezer, labeling each container so that I could throw it into a pot later without waiting for it to melt.

And in case you are wondering, the broth has a slight lemony undertone, but it is not at all overpowering. The lemon, I think, gives it a crisp, fresh flavor. I would definitely be willing to try it again.