Turkey Bone Broth

By Karenna

What's left of the turkey after you've served dinner and stored your leftover meat. You can discard the skin — the bones are the most important thing here. Any leftover organs can also go in the pot for flavor.

Ingredients

• A 12 qrt pot with a tight-fitting lid.
• 1 large white or yellow onion, quartered. You don't even need to peel it.
• 2 large carrots, cleaned and cut in half to fit in the pot
• 2 large ribs of celery with the leafy tops if possible, cut in half to fit in the pot
• 5 large cloves of garlic, smashed open. You can leave the skins on
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar (distilled white vinegar works, too)
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme and a small handful of fresh Italian parsley (if you have them on hand)
• Note: If your pot is larger than 12 quarts (most aren't) double all of the add-ins above.

Preparation

Step 1

Put everything listed above in your large pot, then cover with purified water leaving about a two inch margin at the top of the pan. How much water you add will depend on the size of your pot and the size of your ingredients. Again, use about one tablespoon of vinegar for every 2 quarts of water.

Cover and bring to a boil. This takes about 30 minutes if you have an extra large pot.

Turn down to a simmer and simmer for 12 - 24 hours, checking about every four to six hours and skimming the foam off the top if needed (not everyone will need to do this, it depends on your bones.) If you notice the water level decreasing, it's ok to add a few cups of water a few times to bring it back up. Just be sure to keep it covered to prevent the liquid from evaporating.

When time is up, strain into a large bowl through a fine mesh colander or cheese cloth and discard everything that was in the pot. Your bone broth is ready!

Tip: Once cooled, you may notice some fat settling to the top of your bone broth, you an skim it off or stir it back in. If it's a small amount I usually stir, if it's a lot I skim it off.

Drink it plain, use it in a soup, or freeze it for later in airtight glass freezer-safe containers up to 3 months.