Scrap Stock

As I showed you on the ‘Freezing’ page (HOTH tab Preservation category) how to save your veggie scraps for stock, now I am going to show the process to make it! It’s such an easy method, and if you’re an experienced canner you can even pressure can some jars of stock for long time storage. If you don’t have a canner, that’s okay, you can keep the stock in your fridge for up to 3 weeks, or do the same thing again, and freeze it. I like to have stock year round, so I opt to pressure can my batches, which are also fairly big, I do anywhere from 6 to 12 quart batches depending on scrap. The goal is to get in the habit of saving your scraps in the freezer every time you have them. Thanksgiving is one time of year I have enough scrap from just that day alone to make a batch of stock.

What isn’t given to the chickens, rabbits, or tossed in the compost gets frozen for stock. Onion ends and peels, garlic ends and peels, broccoli stems, carrot and potato peels, asparagus ends and the list goes on and on, you can even save your bones for meat stocks, or shells from seafood for fish stock really the possibilities are endless you just make it how you like it. I prefer straight veggie stock because you can always add the flavor of meats later if you choose to do so. Veggies stock is more versatile than say chicken, beef or shrimp stocks.

So once you’ve saved enough stock to boil a batch, you’ll need to dump all the ingredients in a big stock pot and cover with water. I like to keep it on a low simmer for an hour or so, and at times I’ll add herbs and spices to help flavor the stock, like salt pepper, paprika, bay leaf, it all just depends. I strain twice because a lot of bits and dirt pieces will settle at the bottom, especially from celery stalk and potato peels. After you strain the liquid, put it into the containers you are storing in, if you’re canning now would be the time to do that, or you could keep in jars or containers in the fridge or even freeze them. The choice is based on how often you use stock for cooking. If you choose to can be sure to follow the pressure cooking settings and instructions for stock.