What to do with veggies after making broth?

[AmyKT]

I'm making my first ever broth, so this may be a dumb question, but I can't find an answer to it anywhere.

I'm using a whole chicken carcass and lots of veggies. By the time I get to it tonight it will have been in the crockpot for 24 hours.

What do I do with the veggies? Do I eat them? They looked great this morning. Do you just throw them away? Are there any nutrients left? I hate to toss good food, so I won't, if it's still any good.

[bandgeek]

Cream soup?

[Chicky2]

After 24-48 hrs of simmering mine are mush. We feed it to the chickens, and soon we'll be feeding pigs. Do you know anyone w/livestock? Otherwise, I'd toss 'em.

[BedHead]

That's the reason I use a lot of veggies that are past their ideal eating stage. I always throw them out with the bones. So I save stuff like potato peels, soft carrots, onion skins, garlic skins and stuff to use in my broth. I have a baggie in the freezer that I collect them in till broth making time

[AmyKT]

Originally Posted by bandgeek

Cream soup?

Sounds like that might be the only option

Originally Posted by Chicky2

After 24-48 hrs of simmering mine are mush. We feed it to the chickens, and soon we'll be feeding pigs. Do you know anyone w/livestock? Otherwise, I'd toss 'em.

I wish I had chickens, but I don't yet. I guess I can't even use them for my compost pile unless I can get all the bones and fat separated, which is sounds like would be difficult at that stage.

Originally Posted by BedHead

That's the reason I use a lot of veggies that are past their ideal eating stage. I always throw them out with the bones. So I save stuff like potato peels, soft carrots, onion skins, garlic skins and stuff to use in my broth. I have a baggie in the freezer that I collect them in till broth making time

I definitely plan to do that next time. I've asked my husband, who is the primary cook, to start me a freezer bag of scraps.

Thanks for the help!

So just to clarify, if the stock had been simmering for a shorter amount of time, you'd use the veggies? I guess it all depends on what they look like (and taste like) when you finish, right?

[Llyra]

One thing you can do with the veg, if it's really mushy, is puree it and add it back to the stock. I do that with carrots and onions all the time. You can even puree them and save them to use to thicken a sauce or soup. Don't keep them more than a day or two, of course. They don't have too much left in terms of either nutrition or flavor, I guess, but I can't stand to waste them, even if we're just getting the fiber.

[Chicky2]

Originally Posted by AmyKT

I definitely plan to do that next time. I've asked my husband, who is the primary cook, to start me a freezer bag of scraps.

Thanks for the help!

So just to clarify, if the stock had been simmering for a shorter amount of time, you'd use the veggies? I guess it all depends on what they look like (and taste like) when you finish, right?

We freeze our 'stock making scraps' too.

Personally I feel the goodness of the bone stock is what I'm going for when I make the stock. I don't use good veggies in mine. I mean, I don't put rotten stuff in there, but I use the ends and peels of the onions that I cut off when I am chopping some for a dish, the peels and ends of the carrots I am making into sticks for the kids or chopping for something else, the ends of the bunch of celery, some of the celery leaves, parsley stems (or rosemary, thyme, etc), the little ends I cut off of the cloves of garlic I'm mincing for something. Wow, was that a run-on sentence or what? LOL!

Now I need to check on my own stock I have going. Mmmm, rabbit!

[Magelet]

compost them. after they've cooked as long as a bone broth cooks, I figure all the goodness is out of the veggies and into the broth. isn't that the point?

[Teenytoona]

I've been throwing mine out. I seem to recall a discussion where the idea was they weren't compostable?

[kl5]

Originally Posted by Teenytoona

I've been throwing mine out. I seem to recall a discussion where the idea was they weren't compostable?

We compost ours, have for years. I think some people are really strict about not putting any animal products in their compost piles, to avoid attracting animals. But as long as we're not throwing bones or (too much) fat and meat in, we do not worry about veggies that have been cooked in stock. If you've got a big enough, well-established pile going, it should not be a problem.

[Magelet]

since I'm in an apartment, to me, the best I can do with compost is city compost, which takes animal products including meat and bones. (sadly, I can't actually get compost in our building. I'm working on it. I said compost because it's better than trash, which is what I have to do. )

Even for home compost though, I just wouldn't worry about veggies cooked in broth. it wouldn't even cross my mind not to put them in.