Dehydrate bone broth and make your own stock powder

Make broth easier to store and easier to use!

Broth and stocks are a staple in the traditional diets of every culture. Besides infusing home cooking with great flavour, the nutritious liquid contains incredible healing benefits and is considered an ancient remedy. For this reason, simmering bones has seen a revival in traditional kitchens and is a staple in the paleo and SCD community.  

Homemade stock will always be much healthier than store-bought varieties. Whether you buy poultry, meat or plant-based stock, broth or bouillon, they all have some form of MSG, or lab-produced flavour enhancer. If you have food sensitivities or follow a specific diet, it may be difficult to find any commercial stock powder suitable.  

By making stock or broth at home you can control exactly what goes into it. The final product can be stored in the fridge or freezer, however, if space is an issue or you just prefer the convenience of bouillon, then, dehydrating is a superb option. The Breeze Food Dehydrator preserves the nutritive value of the broth in a shelve stable form. Once dehydrated you can break it up into pieces or grind it into powder in the Vibe Blender.

One cup of liquid broth dehydrates down to approximately one tablespoon of powder, so you can easily store several bottles of homemade stock powder in your pantry and save on space.

Making stock or broth isn’t hard, so don’t think you need to be an expert in the kitchen to make it. We used homemade chicken broth as the example here, but any sort of bone broth can be dehydrated. We haven’t shared our recipe because there are so many methods online and many variations. Bone broth can be simmered for hours or days. It really is worth experimenting. We haven’t tried dehydrating vegetable stock, but we are confident it will work too. Let us know if you try it. 

Like many culinary wise traditions, making homemade bone broth and dehydrating it is a long and slow process, but nothing about it is difficult. The hands-on time is minimal, and you’ll be rewarded with a dry product that will keep for up to a year if prepared and stored correctly.

How to use homemade stock powder.

You can easily rehydrate your homemade powder by adding it to a cup of hot water. Alternatively, you can add a teaspoon or more right into your cooking as a flavourful base. You can also mix it into gravies and sauces. Basically, use it wherever you would normally use store-bought bouillon. It’s also great sprinkled onto foods! Once you have it in your pantry, you’ll find yourself using it on nearly everything. Take it traveling, camping, hiking - there are virtually no limits.

MOST IMPORTANT DEHYDRATING TIP!

In order for your homemade stock powder to have an extended shelf life and not risk going rancid, you must remove ALL the fat from the liquid broth before dehydrating. Fat does not dehydrate.

After straining, put your pot of broth in the fridge to chill completely. You can leave it over-night. The gelatin in the broth will set and the fats will rise to the top and solidify, making it much easier to remove. If you are not confident that you have removed all of the fat, refrigerate it again after you have reduced the broth.  

SILICON LINERS

To evaporate high liquid contents in the Breeze Food Dehydrator you need Luvele silicon ‘roll-up sheets’ that fit on top of the dehydrator trays. These are sold separately in packs of four. We recommend using 8 liners when dehydrating bone broth. Estimate half a cup of liquid broth for each liner. 

INGREDIENTS

Homemade broth

METHOD

1.   Start by making your own broth. Since you are dehydrating it, use water sparingly. Cover your ingredients completely, but don’t fill the pot unnecessarily. If you do, this will only mean more time reducing it later.
2.   When you have finished cooking, strain all the solids out of your broth.
3.   Put the strained broth in the fridge. Once chilled, the fat will rise to the top and solidify and be much easier to remove.
4.   Take the broth back to the stove. Simmer, with the lid off and let cook until it has reduced to about a third. When it’s done it should be runny, but thicker and more like a gravy consistency. If it starts to form a skin, that’s a good sign that it is reduced enough to dehydrate. If you are using 8 silicon liners, you will need 4 cups of broth.

5.   Allow it to cool just enough to handle. Keep in mind though, that if you allow it to cool down and set it will need to be reheated again to be able to pour into the silicon trays. Note: If you can see any residual fat on the broth you must refrigerate it and remove the fat before proceeding.
6.   Set the silicon liners into the mesh trays. It is best to pour the broth into the liners while they are stacked. That way you don’t risk spilling any precious broth when you stack the trays.

7.   Pour half a cup of broth into each liner.
8.   Set the Breeze Food Dehydrator to 75° C / 167° F and the time to 8 hours to check in. At this point you should be able to peel the dehydrated bone broth away from the silicon liner. If it’s too sticky to do this, set it to cook for another 2 hours before lifting it off.
9.  Lay the dried sheets of broth on the wire mesh trays for further drying – approx. 2 hours. If pieces are bendy or sticky, they need more time. When the broth has completely dehydrated it will easily snap into pieces.
10.  At this point you can store the dehydrated broth in pieces or grind it until crushed or powdery.
11.  Break the sheets up into small pieces and place in the Vibe Blender jug. Secure the lid on then blend on ‘nut’ mode for 10-15 seconds or until you have the consistency you desire.
12.  Store in an airtight container in a dark place in the pantry for up to a year. For long-term storage, vacuum seal or store in a vacuum sealed glass container.

If you make this, or any of our recipes, we would love to see your creations. Leave us a comment, or tag a photo using #luvelelife on Instagram. 

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