Bone Broth
What is it?
Bone broth is basically a savoury liquid made by simmering the bones of meat or fish in water. To this liquid spices, herbs, salt and pepper may also be added. The end product can be a delicious and potentially healthy drink. Broth can also be used for the basis of other delicious dishes such as soups, stews and as a basis for some sauces
Bone broth has become very fashionable lately. Now if you don’t have the time to simmer bones for hours, you can find broth in most supermarkets.
Now everything that goes around, comes around, at some stage or another, and this new fashion for broth would certainly not have surprised our forefathers, who would have been well aware of the nutritional value of a good broth. In fact some of us may have been made to drink some form of broth as children when we were unwell.
Does it have health giving properties?
Well this depends entirely on who you listen too, and many books have been written the subject. Extraordinary claims are made as to broth’s health properties. Others say that there isn’t enough research on bone broth to support—or refute—these health claims.
There is a South American saying “Good broth will resurrect the dead” . Now we at MM Ingredients, are of course not experts in nutrition or medical professionals, so we cannot vouch for the veracity of this saying. We would of course not offer any advice as to the health giving properties or otherwise of broth.
Now when a good broth cools, it congeals due to the presence of gelatine. The use of gelatine or collagen as a therapeutic agent goes back to the ancient Chinese.
Collagen
What we do know is that one of the ingredients in broth is of course gelatine in the form of collagen. Any advice we do give on the benefits of collagen, comes from the Gelatine Manufacturers of Europe.
The collagen we sell, both Beef and Marine, is hydrolysed and is in powdered form, and if you don’t want to drink broth, you can add collagen to your drinks and other food to achieve the same results as you would get with broth. Collagen is almost all protein, and so is good for a high protein diet.
Taking collagen should not be seen as a substitute for having a varied and healthy diet and getting enough exercise.