How to Make Free Vegetable Stock

Guess what? You probably have the makings for free vegetable stock in your pantry and refrigerator, right now! What’s more, you might have been planning to throw them away! Vegetable stock is a terrific base for soups and stews and can provide lots of low calorie, low salt flavor to other dishes. Consider cooking rice or pasta in vegetable stock, for flavor without fat. Why buy cartons of chicken stock, when you can make vegetable stock for free?

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. SAVE THOSE SCRAPS. Keep a heavy duty zip bag, or tightly sealed container in your freezer and fill it with the trimmings from vegetables. You can use the (clean) ends and skins of onions, carrots, and celery. If you’ve roasted garlic and squeezed the paste out of the head, save the head (papery skin and all). Stick with vegetables you think of as soup vegetables. You’ll want to stay away from whole peppers or tomatoes, and salad vegetables. And, although celery leaves add terrific flavor, don’t add carrot greens.

2. USE THE OLDIES. Those tired carrots and limp celery stalks won’t look good as crudités, but they have plenty of nutrition and flavor to contribute to the stock pot. If you aren’t ready to make stock when you discover that what’s in the crisper is no longer crisp, freeze the vegetables until you’re ready to use them.

3. HOLD ONTO THAT LIQUID GOLD. The liquids from all canned vegetables, as well as cooking and steaming liquids, contain plenty of nutrients. Don’t pour them down the drain! Instead, pour them into a tight sealing container and keep them in the freezer. When it’s time to make stock, substitute this liquid for some (or all) of the water in the stockpot.

4. MAKE THE STOCK. Empty your freezer bags and containers into a large stock pot. There’s no need to thaw the vegetables or liquids. Add water (if needed) until it just covers the vegetables. Bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover the pot and let simmer, up to 3 hours. (After 4 hours, the vegetables may become bitter.) Strain the stock through a cheese cloth lined sieve. Discard the vegetables (or toss them in the compost bin). Allow the stock to cool.

5. SAVE THE STOCK. If you aren’t going to use the stock immediately for soup, freeze it in recipe sized containers. Consider freezing some of it in ice cube trays (carefully marked, of course), for use in stir fry dishes and other places where the vegetable “bouillon cubes” can add a flavorful touch.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have leftover fresh herbs, consider adding a few in the last hour of the cooking cycle. Don’t overdo the herbs, though, as too much variety (or too much of even one herb) can take over the flavor of the stock. Many herbs, too, can be frozen for later use.
• You can also make this stock in the slow cooker. Don’t cook more than 8 hours on low, though, or the vegetables may become bitter.
• If you add the liquid from canned tomatoes, or drained salsa, be aware that the resulting stock should not be used to cook dried beans. The addition of the tomato juice may cause the beans to remain hard and not cook as desired.

[maureenw59]

on 9/9/2009 I love the idea of using tired, limp carrots and celery. I have too many of those. 5*

[40skydiver]

on 7/29/2009 Good tips for a vegetable stock. 5* and a recommendation!

[mommyhen42]

on 7/22/2009 I havent done this in years and I totally forgot about it... shame to waste all those goodies! Thanks for the reminder that they have one more use before I give them to my earth worms.

[turtledove]

on 6/27/2009 I didn't know the tip about beans and tomato juice. That explains a lot. :-P 5*

[jdds08]

on 6/15/2009 Tips like these can prove invaluable.