A while back I had read about freezing your veggie scraps, then making homemade vegetable broth with them. I had two bags full of veggie scraps. I worked hard to have a good mix. Nothing that would give the broth a bad taste (i.e. cruciferous veggies) or be too soft (zucchini), etc. It came time to make the broth, I had a freezer bag jam packed. Then there was a carrot recall. Ahhh, deciding not to risk death for vegetable broth I tossed it all and started over…

Well, it was a cold day, and I thought it would be nice to have something on the stove heating up. I mixed a few different recipes (one said to cook on the stove a minimum of 3 hours and the other said not to go longer than 1 hour or risk it getting bitter.) So, I made up my own situation… I decided I wanted a little fat and I had one stalk of celery left, so I sautéed that along with a garlic clove. Once it was softened a bit, I added 1/2 bag of veggie scraps. Stirred it around to give it a quick sauté. Then I added a full bag of frozen scraps (don’t defrost), gave it a quick stir to incorporate and added enough water until the veggies were floating (about 3-3.5 qts/1 gallon freezer bag of scraps). I brought it to a boil, added the end of a tube of tomato paste (about a tablespoon or so), gave it a good stir and let it do its thing. I kept checking on it, gave it a little more water a few times. I had a lid partially covering the (big soup) pan. Once it boiled I turned it down to a low simmer and set the timer for an hour. Added salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and basil. Use whatever herbs sound good to you. I didn’t have fresh, so I used dry.

After an hour, place a fine mesh sieve (like this one) in a large pan and slowly pour (or first scoop out the solids into the strainer and then pour the liquid). You may have to do this in batches. Press down on the veggies with a wooden spoon (or similar) to get more of the broth out of them. Discard or compost the veggies and let the broth cool. Once cool enough to go in the fridge, put in containers. Glass is preferable. If you can use it, great, otherwise freeze it.

The end result is beautiful! Especially once strained and poured into containers.

That’s it! Can you believe it? Next up, I’m making my Vegetarian Bean Soup this week and I’m super excited to use veggie broth vs. water. It’s GOT to add another dimension to the flavor of the soup, right? I’ll keep you posted. If it works you’ll see the recipe updated. (Link above).

Also, good tips regarding which veggies to use (onions, carrots, celery, asparagus stems, kale stems/greens, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato chunks or cores, garlic, even a lemon that’s been squeezed on this site (homesteadandchill.com)!

🍽️ Until next time…