Would hitting chicken bones with a hammer before making broth release more nutrients?

[NoTiGG]

i haven't done this myself.. I guess it would be kind of a mess to do but it seems like hitting bones with a hammer so they are splintered would make the minerals leech into the broth better

[laohaire]

Hmm. I don't really know, but just talking out what comes to mind:

- Most of the nutrients are in the marrow, so cracking certain bones might be a good idea. But just one snap/crack should do it, not anything like splintering the whole thing, and I don't think you would need to crack, say, every rib bone or scapula etc.

- A teaspoon of vinegar in the mix does a VERY good job of softening the bones. When I do two batches of broth from the same carcass (and I don't even add vinegar again to the second batch), I'm left with bones that are just about crumbled.

So I don't think hammering is necessary for chicken bones, even to get the most out of them.

For larger bones in larger animals, like some cattle bones, I would want to make sure the marrow was exposed somehow, though that will probably be via saw rather than hammer.

[philomom]

I do that with my kitchen hammer. I also add lemon juice to the cooking pot. My bone broth is yummy.