Homemade Vegetable Broth

I recently read an amazing article which talked about wasting less to get more out of the groceries that you buy. With all of the cooking that I do, I chop the ends off of probably 3 to 5 onions a week, and those ends get tossed right into the dumpster. The same goes for the ends of carrots, celery, peels from potatoes, herb stems, etc, etc, etc. I also go through copious amounts chicken broth. With the winter season coming up, soups and stocks are had dozens of times a month. The article discussed how you can make your own vegetable broth by saving that vegetable "waste" in an indudstrial freezer bag. Everytime I went to toss the vegetables, I stopped myself and threw it in the freezer bag. Once I had a bag full, I made my first attempt at homemade broth.

Heat up the largest stock pot that you have on hand over high heat. Toss in the entire bag of vegetables with about 10 whole black peppercorns, 1 tsp. of salt, and enough water to cover all of the veggies. Bring to a boil, and then let simmer on medium-low heat for about 2 hours. Not only will your house smell delicious, but you will have about a gallon of stock by the time you are done.

After 2 hours, or all day if you want, strain the vegetables out, and let the liquid pour into a large bowl, or serving pitcher. A serving pitcher with a spout will make it easy if you want to save the broth in ice cube trays. This makes it convenient to pop the broth into recipes. You can also save the completely cooled liquid in freezer bags or air-tight containers.

The broth will last 2 months in the freezer or up to one week in the refrigerator.