Homemade Vegetable Stock

    I keep posting recipes for soup, and saying that you can use homemade stock, but could never remember to take pictures of making the stock to post about it! Well, I finally remembered, and here it is (well, the making of veggie stock, at least!).

Homemade Veggie Stock

Ingredients:

• Veggie scraps. Good things to stash in the freezer until you have enough are: celery, broccoli stems, kale stems, tomatoes, carrots and mushrooms (among other veggies). Cut up or not. 
• Always add at least one onion (quartered), and 1 whole head of garlic (peeled and crushed)
• Herbs are always nice to add such as bay leaves, thyme, or parsley. But this is optional.
• Pepper to taste (peppercorns are great to add).
• Salt if needed.

Method:

1. Place all veggies into a large pot. 
2. Fill the pot with cold water until all the veggies are covered, leaving at least 3-4 inches of space at the top of the pot.
3. Set pot to medium heat and bring to a boil. 
4. Covered, and turn to low and allow to simmer at least one hour, depending on how deep a colour and flavour you want. I usually simmer mine until the stock has reduced to almost half (sometimes taking up to 5 hours). Taste the stock at this point to decide if you want to add a pinch of salt.
5. Drain stock into a large bowl and discard the vegetable solids. 
6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer for future use (being sure to label the container with what it is, and when you made it).

In this stock I used frozen celery scraps, frozen kale stems (I forgot about them and added them after I had filled the pot), frozen mushrooms that were marked down, 2 onions and a head of garlic. I also threw in the last of the baby carrots.

   
   As far as choosing good veggies for a stock, some are stand-outs. 
   
​   Mushrooms add a deep, earthy flavour, carrots give it some sweetness, and celery has a peppery taste that spices up a stock. Cutting everything up can help release some of the flavours, but I generally just throw all my frozen (or need to get out of the fridge) veggies into the pot as is, and let it really simmer down. That gets most of the flavours out. 

   Making your own stock is simple, requires no real recipe, helps use up veggies that may have normally just been thrown away. Also, it is much better for you than the MSG laden stuff you generally find pre-made (or in bouillon, or powder form) in the grocery store. All good things in my book!