5 Reasons to love fish bone broth
5 Reasons to Love Fish Bone Broth
- Fish bone broth contains many of the same nutrients as chicken and beef, such as phosphorus, magnesium, silicon, sulphur, calcium, trace minerals, and collagen. Which is great news if your pescatarian.
- Fish bone broth is also full of iodine which is not found in the bones of land animals. Iodine is widely known for its benefits to thyroid health. It has also shown results which suggest its benefits in removing heavy metal toxins and antioxidant functions and maintaining the integrity of mammary glands. (1)
- Supports the digestive system, the collagen found in bone broth acts like a soothing balm to heal and seal your gut lining.
- Great for cognitive function as it contains vital omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.
- Takes only 1 - 2 hours to release the nutrients from the fish bones as opposed to 8 - 24 hours for land animal bones.
So if you are ready to give this wonderful nutrient dense food a try see the recipe below. It can be drank as a nourishing snack or used as a base in fish stews.
Fish Bone Broth
- 2 fish carcasses with heads from large non-oily wild caught fish such as halibut, cod, sole, turbot, or Hake (only use non-oily fish because the fish oils in fatty fish such as salmon become rancid in cooking).
- 2 tablespoons ghee/coconut oil
- 1-2 carrots, scrubbed and coarsely chopped
- 2 ribs organic celery, including leafy part, coarsely chopped
- 2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- Purified water to just cover the bones in the pot
- 1 bay leaf
- Handful sage and rosemary leaves
- 2 teaspoons peppercorns
- small handful of fresh parsley
- 2 inch fresh Ginger chopped (for added digestive support and flavour)
- 2 inch fresh turmeric chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
Wash the fish and cut off the gills if present.
In a large stockpot, melt the ghee/coconut oil over medium-low to low heat. Add the carrots, celery, and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes.
Add the fish and enough water to cover it by 1". Increase the heat to medium and bring the water to a bare simmer. Use a shallow spoon to carefully skim the film off the top of the broth. Add the rest of the ingredients and reduce the heat to low. Cook at a bare simmer for about 60 minutes, uncovered or with the lid askew. Continue to skim the surface as needed. After 50 minutes add the garlic for the last 10 minutes of cooking.
When the broth is done, remove the pot from the heat. Pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer and discard the solids and bones.
Let cool before refrigerating. When chilled, the broth should be very gelatinous. The broth will keep for 5 days in the refrigerator and 3 or more months in your freezer.
References
1. The Extrathyronine Actions of Iodine as Antioxidant, Apoptotic, and Differentiation Factor in Various Tissues. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3752513/