Medicinal Grass-Fed and Finished Ginger Lamb Bone Broth
In the health conscious English speaking West today, the Churches of Paleo, Carnivore and Keto™️ basically worship bone broth for good reason. Used in pretty much all traditional cultures across the globe, bone broth is used to impart great flavour and healing benefits into soups, stews and sauces alike. Broth made from bones simmered in spring water is an absolute staple for most any human looking to maintain good health and become superhuman, from joint, skin, gut and mental health to naturally shiny glowing hair and strong bones, teeth and nails to even healing/maintaining autoimmune, gut and other issues. Pharmacologically, animal bone broth is like a basic restorative blank slate in human nutrition (and I’d say that this includes high quality pasture raised/wild animal foods in general).
The most notable classic dishes off the top of my head that use bone broth are ramen, gravy and pho! If you eat a lot of high quality grass-fed and finished muscle meat, be sure to also enjoy high quality animal fats, organs and bone broths in order to balance out the amino acid profile of the muscle meat (think balanced methionine:glycine ratio in the case of bone broth and gelatinous cuts of meat), and on top of that, get at least more sunlight exposure and movement throughout the day... I could go on.
I am currently maxing out my nutritional repletion with a special focus on wild caught seafood for about 3 days to pre-emptively prepare my body optimally for a flight at the end of this week, so I made a big batch of this ginger lamb broth to enjoy during this time. Flights and airports are so inflammatory and taxing on the body, and even though I currently don’t fly often, it’s a welcome challenge to see what I can do to counterbalance all that stress!
All you basically need: spring water, bones, ACV, herbs, sea salt, and a couple hours to spare.
If you’re short on time (and who isn’t, really?) but would still like to reap the many healing benefits of a grass-fed and finished bone broth regularly, you might be in the right place! Find a lazy Sunday, and read on to find out how to make a quick broth. Most classic recipes infuse a variety of herbs/adaptogens and spices for flavour and health benefits, and although I only use simple ginger here, feel free to experiment with different herbs, seaweeds (particularly for iodine) and spices (especially found in the wild for free!) that you prefer and have access to.
Ingredients
1 lb grass-fed and grass-finished, high quality, pasture raised lamb bones
1L wild spring water (or enough to cover the bones without overflowing the pot), with more to rinse/boil/purify bones separately
1/4 cup raw organic apple cider vinegar (with the ‘mother’) - or another acid like organic lemon/lime, which will help extract important vitamins and minerals from the bones
1-inch knob of organic ginger, minced (I usually store mine long term in the freezer)
1 tsp sea salt (optional, or just use the plain broth in a salted recipe afterwards)
Pre-roasting the bones is optional but gives great flavour to the broth
Boil and rinse bones briefly to purify them first
Transfer to the final pot to boil and simmer in spring water!
Method
Roast the bones for about 5 minutes at 400F, just to get the surface a bit cooked. This step is optional, but it will certainly impart more flavour into your broth.
Boil the bones for 5 minutes in reverse osmosis filtered water or spring water. This will remove any impurities, and it’s a step common in many traditional pho recipes. With a spoon, skim off any scum that forms on the surface. Drain and rinse the bones in a bowl of filtered/spring water.
Transfer the bones to your final cooking pot filled with your spring water. You could also use an Instant Pot/slow cooker, if you have one.
Pour in the ACV, drop in the ginger, and sprinkle in your sea salt, if using. Bring to a boil for 5-10 minutes, and bring down to a simmer for 3-4 hours.
Strain the bones, ginger and any solids out, and use a funnel to spoon the broth into a clean large Mason jar or two.
Let the jars cool completely before placing in the fridge. Keep in the fridge for up to a week. Enjoy!
Tips
Be sure to use the HIGHEST quality bones you can find, and a wide variety of bones including marrow, connective tissue, gelatin/collagen, necks, knuckles, feet, ears. The more gelatinous the broth is when cooled, the better quality it is, and the more health benefits. Low quality, factory farmed bones from suffering indoor animals fed GMO/Glyphosate grains, corn and/or soy can release higher amounts of heavy metals, antibiotics and other toxins into the broth, and metaphysically, the energy of the suffering animal can become the broth. After all, we are what we eat. Ethically sun raised bones luckily tend to be quite inexpensive, so do your darndest to seek out pasture raised, grass-fed and finished bones from farms and farmers you personally trust. If you’re in Ontario, you can use code ROOTTOSKY for $10 off your first order at wildmeadowsfarm.ca (delivers Ontario-wide).
Do not use unfiltered tap water for cooking, drinking, and especially a high quality broth like this, since it’ll ruin it. Find wild spring water anywhere nearest you at Find A Spring, or order glass bottles from your spring water dealer/find them at any old grocery store. In Ontario, I order glass bottled spring water delivered from Cedar Springs (from a protected source with a good mineral analysis). Reverse osmosis filtered water is also fine, as is distilled water that has been purified (just make sure to remineralize it by making this salted bone broth).
In the past, I used to simmer my bones in the Instant Pot for 24-60 hours (!!!) in an attempt to get the absolute most out of the precious bones. I later read more about how simmering bones for a very long time can actually do more harm than good, and end up extracting heavy metals like lead (even if it’s in low amounts like in these studies). In today’s world (and not to get overly neurotic), I think it’s better to be safe and simmer your high quality bones for 4-6 hours at most, which will provide a good enough delicious broth and reduce the energy required for cooking! If in doubt, do your independent research and find a method you personally trust. Adding a source of iodine in the form of seaweed can offset any lead/heavy metals, just like how selenium (ie. from max. 2 Brazil nuts a day or in other foods) can offset any mercury in seafood.
I don’t recommend storing your broth jars in the freezer. Glass jars are indeed superior to toxic plastic, but too often I’ve experienced a glass jar break in the freezer even after the broth has cooled down completely. Store it in the fridge, and make it fresh every time - or freeze the broth in silicone ice cube trays and store the cubes in a reusable freezer-safe bag/container.
Bone broth is generally a healing wonder, but a low histamine meat broth can be better if you’ve got mast cell issues.
Bone broth is great nutrition, but be sure to enjoy a variety of foods including raw cheeses/dairy if possible, pasture-raised eggs and grass-fed butter.
Anecdotes surrounding bone broth boasting it to be a “miracle cure” may not be enough for the paradigm to be considered evidence-based science, but as long as we can experience the healing benefits for ourselves and live better and more fulfilling, exciting lives full of creativity, life force, loving compassion, fun and curiosity, that’s all that should really matter in my opinion.
