How do you make vegetable stock with veggie scraps??

[jenniferkentwood]

Hi all,

I remember reading a post somewhere and I can't seem to find it about someone making vegetable stock with veggie scraps. How do you make it? Can you just use whatever scraps (ie: onion root leftover, without skin, broccoli stalk)? And how much do you use? I would love to try making my own veggie broth with scraps I won't use.

Thanks.

[derketchup]

The following ends/pieces of vegetables can be used when making stock:

onions
garlic
carrots
parsnips
zucchini
potatoes
sweet potatoes
winter squash
mushrooms
apples
tomatoes
green beans
lettuce
corn
celery

absolutely do not use
bananas or their peels
avocados or their peels/pits

I'm sure there are others that aren't good in stock, but I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Anyways, you pretty much always want onion in the stock. Just fill a big pot with water, add your left over veggie ends/pieces (I store them in a container in my fridge until I'm ready) and simmer, partially covered, for about an hour. You can also add salt and pepper to taste.

I taste it periodically as it cooks, and when it tastes good to me I turn off the heat, let it cool, and then strain it. A sieve works the best but I've used a collander and a few coffee filters before. Then you can either freeze it in ice-cube trays or store it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

You can make chicken or beef stock as long as you have boney pieces. For example, if you're baking a chicken reserve the neck and the wings, and use them to make a chicken stock.

Hope that helps!

[jenniferkentwood]

It definitely helps. Thanks. I have started saving some of my veggie scraps but I don't think I have enough yet, so I will keep accumulating it til I have enough. Thanks.

[derketchup]

I usually wait until I have a casserole dish full.... I think it holds a quart or two.

[jenniferkentwood]

Again, thanks for the advice. I am making mine right now. Hope it will turn out okay. I just prepared turkey meatloaf and had some veggie scraps like red bell pepper, onion ends and carrot ends.

I dug through the fridge and found some veggies about to expire like a few leafs of romaine lettuce, a potato, few leaves of kale, chopped off broccoli stems, one green onion.

All this I added to the pot along with a few sprigs of parsley, 2 whole carrots and one whole onion (probably didn't have enough onion scrap) along with some peppercorns and bay leaves.

It's simmering right now, I hope it will turn out great. Will post back.

[hotcouponmama]

I'll add in that celery cooked down gives off a nice salty taste without the sodium, so I would throw some of that in there.

Then LOTS of spices....

[jenniferkentwood]

I am back to report that my veggie broth is now done and cooling off. The color of the broth is a bit darker than I expected, I think it's probably due to the kale leaves. I liked the taste of it.

[couponfanatic]

For ANY soup/stock always throw in some celery leaves.
Seems around here to be considered an "old fashioned" thing.
When you have celery, you can cut off the leaves, and toss in a bag and freeze. Then when you make soup throw a few in. They look a little funky (little darker & wilty-ish) after freezing, but it does not effect the flavor. And even fresh leaves look weird after cooking them, so they don't look gross in the soup. Or you can lift them out before serving.

[derketchup]

Originally Posted by couponfanatic For ANY soup/stock always throw in some celery leaves. Seems around here to be considered an "old fashioned" thing. When you have celery, you can cut off the leaves, and toss in a bag and freeze. Then when you make soup throw a few in. They look a little funky (little darker & wilty-ish) after freezing, but it does not effect the flavor. And even fresh leaves look weird after cooking them, so they don't look gross in the soup. Or you can lift them out before serving.

I was just trying to figure out how I missed celery on my list! Parsnips are also good, too.

I prefer not to spice my broth so much because I only use it for cooking, and it's the dish that gets spiced. However, there's nothing wrong with spicing the broth as it's cooking if that's what you like.

I've got pieces of Romaine lettuce that are too "woody" to eat, so I'll see how they come out in my next batch of stock.

[megcellent]

parden my stupidity, what do you use vege stock for? I already use and make my own chicken/beef stock, but i've never used/made vege stock???