Why make your own vegetable broth?
Making your own vegetable broth has a number of advantages: conventional vegetable broths from the supermarket usually only contain one percent real vegetables. They also contain a lot of sugar and flavor enhancers in the form of yeast. With a homemade vegetable broth made from leftover vegetables, you avoid these ingredients, protect the environment by reducing packaging waste and reuse old jars. The end product is a healthy vegetable broth free of additives, with few ingredients and, last but not least, good for the figure because it only has around 4 calories per 100ml.
Basic recipe for homemade vegetable broth
A vegetable broth recipe includes every vegetable that needs to be used up. It is important that the vegetables do not contain too much water, as this can cause the broth to mold more quickly. You also need a blender or a sieve and preserving jars, which are best rinsed with boiling water shortly beforehand and dried on a clean tea towel.
Vegetable broth recipe:
Basic recipe for approx. 800ml
- ½ head of celery
- 1 leek
- 2 carrots
- two onions
- two gloves of garlic
- Parsley, chives, lovage and garden cress, depending on taste
- 5 level tablespoons of salt
In order to make processing even more sustainable, vegetable peels that would normally have ended up in organic waste are used. The stalk of broccoli or cauliflower can also be used for vegetable stock.
Step by step instructions: Cook vegetable broth
The best-known form of vegetable broth is the instant powder, which you simply add to boiling water. To make your own vegetable stock powder, the thinly sliced vegetables must be dried in the oven for a long time. This process is anything but sustainable. We show more sustainable alternatives to how you can cook your own vegetable broth.
Variant 1: Vegetable broth paste
- Chop vegetables and herbs
- Grind everything in a blender with salt
- This creates a seasoning paste that, with hot water, becomes a conventional vegetable broth (2 tsp = for one liter of boiling water)
Variant 2: Cook vegetable broth
- Cut the vegetables into small pieces and briefly roast them in a pot
- Add water, herbs and salt
- Let simmer for an hour
- Pour through a sieve into a sterilized container
Make your own vegetable broth: special taste variations
A vegetable broth without salt and sugar is particularly suitable for babies and small children. Less or no salt is used during preparation. Due to the vegetables' own taste, the broths are still tasty, but they do not last as long as salted broths and should therefore be consumed quickly. Homemade vegetable broth is also gluten and sugar free.
There are no limits when it comes to spices. You can try out all flavor variations. For example, flavorful mushrooms such as truffles or chanterelles, as well as chilli, ginger, turmeric or anise, are suitable.
Storage and shelf life of homemade vegetable broth
Due to its high salt content, vegetable broth can be stored in the refrigerator for a very long time, up to a year. To make it even more practical to use, you can put the paste or broth in small ice cube trays and store it in the freezer. If necessary, you have a pre-portioned stock cube straight away.
