The Cheap Vegetable Gardener

How to make vegetable stock

13.4 years ago carrot, leeks, onions, parsley, stock, vegetables

Vegetable stock is a great way to infuse some great flavors and nutrients to your food.  There are the obvious additions such as soups, but I also like to add to staples such as rice and mashed potatoes and even my most fussy vegetable eaters do not even notice.

I didn’t have a lot of spare vegetables so I made a small batch just for the rice I was making for dinner.  You can use pretty much any spare root vegetables you have in your garden or refrigerator.  For non-root varieties celery, tomatoes (especially good if making minestrone soup), corn, and other fresh herbs can also be good additions…general rule if you find it in soup good chance it can help your vegetable stock’s flavor. For be this included some bunching onions, leek, and some baby carrots from the garden.

Homemade vegetable stock recipe

• 3 bunching onions (white and light green areas) chopped in 2 pieces
• 5 baby carrots sliced in half
• 1 leek cut in half
• 1 sprig of parsley
• 1/2 bay leaf
• 4 peppercorns
• 2.5 cups cold water

Directions: Cook at low heat for at least 30 minutes (I normally go up to an hour).  This should add a great aroma around your house with kids asking where the chicken noodle soup is.  Now simply strain the stock into a container (I normally use a large spoon when pouring into my strainer but was difficult to hold a pan, spoon, and a camera at the same time)  I then take the remaining vegetables and add to my compost bin…you could also have a few carrots as a snack but not going to be much flavor nor nutrients left…guess it pretty much is fiber supplement at this point.

Once you have strained your now rendered vegetable stock you can use immediately or refrigerate in a sealed container for about a week or freeze for up to 6 months.

WARNING: Once you try you homemade version of vegetable stock you probably will not be able to go back to the canned version again.